


Flooding the sky (and blurring the darkness)

by vegalocity



Category: Wedding Peach, 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia | My Hero Academia
Genre: Bakugou Katsuki Swears A Lot, F/M, I'm an indecisive hack, Momoko is trying to be a good love Angel, Set somewhere between the Stain Arc and the Final Exams, The genuine teenage experience, but like its barely anything so..., in all its awkward hormonal glory, there's a light nudging at teenage sexuality later, title up for change, will probably go through multiple title changes as the story goes on
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2019-02-15
Packaged: 2019-07-06 04:47:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 27,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15878844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vegalocity/pseuds/vegalocity
Summary: Momoko yelped quietly in surprise as the boy began to glare at her, his disheveled light grey blazer marking him as belonging to UA. Oh great, a boy in Hero School thought she was staring at him.She smiled nervously and waved trying to silently show that she wasn't staring, he'd just been in her line of sight as she'd been looking at nothing, but his glare turned into a snarl and Momoko's smile turned brittle. Well great, Love Angel Wedding Peach just pissed off a boy in Hero School because she spaced out looking in the wrong direction.





	1. When the Moon found the Sun

**Author's Note:**

> I was just working out how a Magical Girl team could still be Magical Girls in the BNHA world, using a more Niche Magical Girl title because despite the name Wedding Peach is like... the most Shounen a Magical Girl title has ever gotten without it just being blatant fanservice. And this whole fic spiraled from there. 
> 
> And now I have a new Crossover ship.

Momoko Hanasaki was fifteen years old and to all who looked at her, she was as normal as they came.

Her Quirk was nothing fancy—just a simple Object Empathy with a small ability to 'pass the charge' nothing overly cool—she wasn't especially smart, but not especially dumb either, she struggled in math but excelled in literature. She was a bit of a crybaby and had a bit of a temper, but her father had always told her that it was simply because she felt a little deeper than most people, that there was nothing wrong with a woman who is emotional despite what society tries to tell her.

She tied her pink hair into soft white bows and put on her school uniform like anyone else in her class, her tie perfectly tied and her blazer straightened.

Momoko Hanasaki was for all intents and purposes an average girl.

She would meet up with her best friends, and together they'd walk to school, they'd do their studies and interview people for the school newspaper (well, Hinagiku would interview, Momoko would take relevant pictures, and Yuri would edit everything together) and she'd flirt with the boys on the soccer team.

The light tick of the clock above the Television was the only noise in the house as she carefully wrapped up the lunch she'd just finished making. Papa's lunch from what she'd prepared last night was thankfully gone from the counter, ensuring that he'd seen it today—something that was always a 50/50 shot, Papa was only ever oblivious when he wasn't looking through the lens of a camera—and that Momoko didn't have to scold him when he got back.

Her mother's ring rested against her collar bone, the light silver chain around her neck cool against her skin. Now that she'd spent more time as a Love Angel, she'd started to feel the latent energy from her Mother's ring, the love wave from the Sacred Four Somethings resting dormant in the Something Old around her neck. It was a constant reminder of what she was, a protector of love. She and her fellow Love Angels protected the love of the Human World, keeping Demons from corrupting the human world and gaining enough strength from their hatred to invade the Angel World. As long as she and her fellow Angels held the line and protected the Sacred Four, love would never be extinguished.

The magic that she could feel from her mother's ring, it was a comfort; in a world where people can't help in a bad situation because it was no longer their place, the reminder that she was doing the right thing was a balm on her nerves.

Only Magic can defeat Magic and Wedding Peach can't get rid of a Demon if she's in a juvenile detention center for vigilantism.

Well thankfully Goddess Aphrodite—ruler of the Angel World and she who the girls answer to as a higher up—had a couple of fail-safes to ensure the existence of Love Angels was kept a secret. While Momoko was always relieved when they needed to be used, it sometimes hurt, to see people return to nothing after the demon was destroyed. It always hurt to see her classmates' true colors and their ability to protect and defend each other only to watch them go back to snapping and making rude comments not minutes after the danger had passed. So instead of relying too much on Aphrodite's magic Momoko instead did her best to not be seen at all.

It was harder than it sounded. Especially since Demons were all so damn theatrical and had a weakness for denouncing love and kindness and everything the Angels stood for, usually to a crowd. More than half of Momoko's Love Angel work had to be done while she was in civilian form, letting out as large of a love wave as she could while she forced the demon away from civilians, usually saying things about pre-wedding jitters and she's a close cousin so she'll take care of it.

And thank Aphrodite that Lily and Daisy were with her most of the time. She wouldn't be near strong enough to get a Demon alone under her own power, but they had strength in numbers. Love Angels were and always would be stronger together.

The cobblestone that lined her neighborhood slowly made way to the smooth pavement of the inner city. Momoko hummed to herself, waiting as usual for her friends to pounce on her, Yuri no doubt making a teasing comment about how she's finally up and on her way before they reached her house, Hinagiku no doubt trying to pull her into a headlock.

But until then she let her eyes wader around the streets before her, thinking about anything and everything as she didn't really take any sights in. Her phone hadn't pinged her on any nearby villain attacks so thankfully it seemed like she'd be on time for school. Or at least if there were any that she Hinagiku _and_ Yuri would all be late together. As she waited for the crossing light to illuminate she'd realized a couple beats too late that she'd been staring into space directly past a fellow teen on the other side of the street. She yelped quietly in surprise as the boy began to glare at her, his disheveled light grey blazer marking him as belonging to UA. Oh great, a boy in Hero School thought she was staring at him.

Momoko smiled nervously and waved trying to silently show that she wasn't staring, he'd just been in her line of sight as she'd been looking at nothing, but his glare turned into a snarl and Momoko's smile turned brittle. Well great, Love Angel Wedding Peach just pissed off a boy in Hero School because she spaced out looking in the wrong direction.

When the walk sign lit up she debated whether to explain herself or not, a weird prickly feeling in her stomach going through at the idea of souring herself to a complete stranger but reconciled that that would be a little too awkward, even for her. So when she crossed paths with the boy she merely muttered a quick 'sorry' before she kept walking.

The rest of the trip to school was pretty uneventful other than the lack of Yuri and Hinagiku joining her. But she did kinda waste some time in packing her lunch today so she wasn't shocked when they smirked knowingly at her at the school gates. She chuckled to herself and jogged up to join her friends.

“Hey Momoko, cuttin' it close again huh?” Hinagiku drawled, slinging an arm around her shoulders. “Did'ya need to stop at Kwik mart for lunch again?” Momoko's cheeks flushed at the reminder of her offering her Kwik mart riceballs to the—ever handsome—Captain of the Soccer team only for the goalie to accept them as snacks for the whole team.

“Hey! That was my first night after Everything Started! If you woke up alone you'd have slept in too!” She shot back folding her arms tightly. The smile on her face was poking out and if Hinagiku's grin widening meant anything they were about to start a good old fashioned snipe-fest.

Unfortunately Yuri saw the signs as well and decided to stop it before it began. “Oh Momoko, the Baseball team is going to be breaking in their new Jerseys today, so we're going to need some Before and After pictures for the sports article.” Momoko smiled over at her blonde friend before nodding.

“Okay! They've been doing really great this season haven't they?” Maybe not as bombastic as the soccer team, but the Baseball team was still pretty good. Plenty of cute boys and plenty of games for them to cover when the Soccer team was off-season (which they were, soccer season was the last half of the semester) It might have been the girls' first year of taking over the school newspaper from the exiting third years, but if the second and third year reviews meant anything, they were doing a pretty alright job.

“They have!” Yuri nodded. “Nothing like the team back in middle school.” Momoko snorted out a surprised laugh at the reminder. Hinagiku quickly following suit with a loud bark of laughter.

“Ohhh man” her fluffy green hair fell in front of her eyes and she threw her head back, obscuring her eyes and further encouraging Momoko's chuckles. “The Anduin Archers were a fucking joke.” She continued. “Well okay most things about Anduin Middle School were a fucking joke.” Yuri leaned over to lightly swat Hinagiku's head.

“Be kind, that's _our_ junior high you're badmouthing.” Momoko giggled. The three of them quickly changed into their school shoes together, lightly chatting about the pros and cons of Anduin Middle School in relation to where they were going currently (That being Gondor Academy, the most prestigious General Education high school in the prefecture, if UA paid any attention to them they could have at least had the decency to have been rivals, but alas Hero Schools only care about other Hero Schools and that honor went to Shiketsu long ago.)

Thankfully the three of them had all gotten the same homeroom that year and continued to chat at Yuri's desk, the conversation beginning to drift subjects from junior high to Hinagiku griping about being unable to use her Quirk to help her family's flower shop, to Love Angel Business in Code (talking about a webcomic that didn't exist that they all supposedly followed) until the bell rang and Momoko returned to her seat by the window and Hinagiku to hers in the back. Classes were, as usual, a blur of notes and handing in essays that she didn't care about. Looked like another uneventful day at Gondor Academy.

Not that there was anything wrong with that of course, Momoko did remember the day about a week after she became a Love Angel, and seeing her classmates all unconscious while a demon hovered over the lot of them, insisting her Mother's ring in exchange for their lives... A shudder crawled up her spine at the memory, it took all the strength in her body to hold Yuri and Hinagiku from calling for someone to get in contact with the police or yet worse, a hero.

Humans fighting Demons, no matter how strong they were... was never a good idea. Her heart practically stopped in her chest when she'd seen her friends jump into the foray to try and help her. Of course that terrifying fight was also how Yuri and Hinagiku awoke as Love Angels to fight alongside her, so she supposed the whole event was a bit of a wash. Thankfully it was Literature while she was thinking about all of that so when the teacher called on her she just rambled for a bit about 'what constitutes Victimhood and Martyrdom' in the text and it was coherent enough for her to avoid getting yelled at for spacing out.

Lunch hour came and went without incident. Nothing noteworthy that the journalists of the school should investigate, no high ranked demons like Pluie feeding on people's negative feelings or demanding the ring, no lower ranked demons like Pluie's little demon pet possessing people in attempt to stir up hatred or resentment. Just a normal lunch.

Momoko felt like she'd been revering these quiet days more now that she wasn't alone.

Momoko leaned against the wall of the school as she popped a sausage into her mouth, chewing slowly and ignoring the somewhat concerned looked her friends shot her.

She didn't regret becoming a Love Angel, but she did wish that things could be less... complicated. Like any child when she was young she and her friends had fantasized about going into Hero work, wondering how their Quirks could be used to stop Bad guys or save people from disasters, and in a weird sort of roundabout way that childhood dream _had_ come true. They had Bad guy after Bad guy to fight now. Arguably their fight had even higher stakes, protecting the Sacred Four from falling into the hands of the Demons, protecting love, protecting humanity from the Demons that would sap them of their dark feelings and block out their light feelings.

But they weren't Pro Heroes, they weren't Lady Pureheart, Captain Flower, and Madame Balance, like the hero names they’d thought up when they were children. They were Wedding Peach, Angel Daisy, and Angel Lily, they were just Momoko, Hinagiku, and Yuri. Three fifteen year old girls in their first year of highschool, thrown into the front lines of a war none of them had even known about beforehand. They had Sir Limone to help when things came down to the wire, but he'd never tried to seek them out for anything beyond to help in a fight; for all intents and purposes they were on their own. No backup, no police, no heroes. Just the three of them standing guard between a single little ring, and the whole Demon World.

Momoko suddenly found that she wasn't very hungry anymore.

But she straightened her back and continued to eat. Conversation between Yuri and Hinagiku had stopped and they were about one more odd behavior away from insisting she go to the nurses office.

At least by the time afternoon classes started up they seemed to have forgotten about her mood. Momoko wasn't quite sure why she felt so down today, she always did her best not to think about how horribly outnumbered and outgunned they were, but it was almost like that boy this morning glaring at her had been a bad omen. If today was just not going to be a good day then Momoko felt like there was no reason not to just roll with it. So by the time classes ended and the three of them began to make their way to the Baseball field (stopping briefly in the Newspaper room to grab their supplies, Momoko's camera, Hinagiku's article notebook, and Yuri's research notes) without any comment on her wayward thoughts.

There was no point in worrying her friends after all. Yuri already had anxiety problems she didn't want to add to them.

The Gondor Gorillas were exactly how Momoko expected them to be. Not as cute as the boys on the soccer team, not as talented either, but they were still perfectly courteous, and their catcher gave them quite a few quotes about how they'd raised the money, the necessity of the replacements, and other such things for Yuri. Momoko got some good pictures of the new outfits and gave a few flirtatious comments to the third baseman, but he was a little _too much_ for her. Maybe if she was feeling at 100% she would have been into his energy, but as it was she just didn't want to deal with it.

Before they'd known it they'd done their usual 'first day of newspaper week' stuff and the three of them were walking home. But Momoko still hadn't quite shaken that off feeling in her chest.

She lingered a few steps behind Yuri and Hinagiku, staring into space until eventually, she decided that she needed a moment. Her friends both looked so concerned, but when she'd waved them off as she turned into the pathway of a nearby park they'd let her go. Yuri insisting that if she needed one of them to not hesitate to call.

The grass crunched pleasantly under Momoko's feet, the rustle of the leaves only periodically broken by a car passing by. And even then the further she walked into the park the more distant the noise became. She waved happily at a jogger, pretended to be dead as a child shot an imaginary lazer blaster in her direction, and honestly, just took a few moments sitting beneath a tree to just... _be_.

She closed her eyes and rested against the rough bark, letting her mind wander over any and all subjects, just letting herself work through all the anxieties that had been sapping her energy all day.

She thought on Jama-P and his little demon friends, the hollow look in people's eyes when they'd possess others to try and spread hatred and resentment. She thought of the first time she'd met Pluie, a demon man she'd initially thought was handsome until he'd made a grab for her mother's ring, Sir Limone appearing to distract pluie and toss her her most powerful weapon. The Sacred Mirror: contact with Aphrodite and her fellow love angels, the key to her transformation, and her Magic 'get out of jail free' card all in one.

She fished said mirror out of her breast pocket and turned it over in her hand. It felt like an eon ago that she'd first become a Love Angel, when in fact it was only a few months prior. They were nearing the end of the semester sure, but she'd gotten the mirror at the end of April, and they were already rapidly nearing summer break (and Finals at that! It was only a matter of time before she went under Tudor Yuri's fury again to get a decent grade)

It felt like a lot longer than it probably was, Love Angel activities had become second nature at this point really.

She sighed and ran a finger across the heart shaped jewel on the top of the compact, tapping her fingernail against the metal.

What they did was important, they protected love, the most important force in the world. No matter how powerful a quirk, no matter how immaculate a city, the world cannot live without love. A sentiment that, of course, the demons vehemently disagreed with, but Momoko believed in it.

She shut her eyes, appearing to all who could see that she was napping, an image of Aphrodite popped up behind her eyes, followed shortly by Sir Limone. So she forewent the light doze in the early summer heat and instead thought on them.

Just what _was_ the Angel World like? If the Angels were anything to go by it must have been beautiful before the war had grown so large. She wondered what it looked like now, the kind of world her mother had returned to. Were the Angels rebuilding a world on the edge of destruction even now? Was her mother's barrier strong enough to let them focus on such a thing? They were on the losing side, this much Momoko knew. So many times recently it seemed like the Demons were one move away from winning before the Angels rebuilt what they'd lost.

Her shoulders tightened involuntarily as her mind strayed to those scant few seconds Pluie held the Something Old in his hand, how close he'd come to returning to the Demon world with the only active piece of the Sacred Four. He hadn't done anything to it, and they'd gotten it back the second Jama-P had been exorcised from who he'd been possessing, but Momoko's heart had stopped all the same the second her Mother's Ring had been cut from the chain around her neck. Playing keep away when you always had the ball was immensely stressful.

A jolt went through her gut, her senses working into overdrive as her eyes snapped open and she sat upright. Something had come into the human world. A Demon most likely, she could feel the chill of demonic energy rolling through her gut. She squeezed her compact and carefully, slowly, palmed a couple of rocks by the base of the tree. She didn't know where this Demon was, or what they wanted, all Momoko knew was it was close enough to begin to turn her stomach.

Kicking her school bag over so it would be harder to see, she took a deep breath and rose to her feet. Someone was shouting, she could pick out a voice, and if Momoko didn't already feel sick...

She began to follow the feeling, the gross roll of demonic energy in her gut began to steady the closer she went, evolving from an uneasy stomach ache to the thin needles of a headache. At least that wouldn't cause her to barf on her enemy, or yet worse, their victim. There were explosions on the other side of the trees, and the few people that were in the park were pointedly beginning to walk in the opposite direction. Perhaps to get police, Momoko needed to be fast.

Her pace picked up until she was running, ducking in between trees and pulling herself into the heart of the little forest at the center of the park.

Now she could pick out words. Whoever the victim was he was shouting, confused.

“What the fuck do you mean _Demon?!_ this is _Bullshit!_ ” incredulity.

“Such rage!” the smooth voice was annoyingly familiar, and when Momoko entered the small grove of trees to get a good look at the scene, her assumptions were proven right.

Demons didn't feed on humans often, but Momoko had seen it before and it was always gross to look at.

A boy with strikingly light blond hair was pinned to the ground with those creepy light cuffs she remembered being bound with once before. They really stung, and if the way the boy was wiggling as explosions erupted from his palms meant anything, he felt the same way. The light grey blazer half hidden in the dirt marked him as belonging to UA, and Momoko distantly realized he was the one she'd been spacing out in the direction of that morning. His face was covered in soot, or perhaps dirt, granted where he lay pinned to the ground. The trees around the two were warped and strange, no doubt from Pluie's demonic wind. Momoko hadn't caught him feeding many times, but the two times she had he did seem to like toying with his victims, to get them just frustrated enough to make an in for him to dig into their negative emotions with.

Pluie continued, the same teasing lit in his voice. “Perhaps once I _wring_ you dry of your hatred I could bring you down to the Demon world with me!” His voice was playful, overly confident and it took everything in Momoko's small reserve of power to not loudly announce his presence just to get him to shut up. His cheekmarks were starting to glow a sickening yellow-green. The blond boy started struggling in earnest, throwing out curses in what Momoko knew must be pain as his body began to disobey him, seizing in reaction Pluie's demon magic.

She reeled back her arm, his legs and waist were pinned with the same cuffs, leaving him unable to do more than wiggle and fire off his quirk, trying in vain to gather enough of a blast to knock Pluie back and possibly free himself.

Momoko let the rock fly.

Pluie had sensed her a moment too late and the rock landed home, making his head jerk in surprise as it impacted his cheek.

“Wedding Peach!” he hissed, sitting upright and the sickening green that illuminated his cheek marks began to fade, the boy's body relaxing reflexively at the sudden reprieve. Momoko tossed the other rock upwards, catching it again and not taking her eyes off the scene. The blond boy whipped his head to the side to look at her, His confused expression quickly morphing to ferocity.

“ _Who the hell are you?! Get the fuck away from here!_ ” She would have called it snapping in fury, but she could see the fear in his eyes even from here. To him she was just a civilian with a rock, and he was already no doubt in quite a bit of pain, body reacting to a force he'd otherwise never experienced before.

She tossed the rock into the air again. “Really Pluie.” At least she'd handled this jerk enough times to not have to hide a tremble in her voice. Pluie had stopped being threatening a bit ago. “Here I thought you'd stopped feeding on humans. I guess you're more gross than I thought.” She watched the lightly panicked look on the boy's face shift into pure bafflement as Pluie started to glare at her.

“And here I thought you were smarter than to rush into a battle out of armor. Really, Wedding Peach...” Momoko locked eyes with the boy, this time there was no glare or snarl, just shock, confusion, and maybe even a mote of worry for someone who for all he knew, was a helpless civilian. She glanced with some significance at his bindings and she hoped he got the picture before she shifted her stance to something far more relaxed, casual and calm and turning her gaze back to the demon.

“I don't need to transform to make you back off, Pluie. You know as well as I do that humans are crazy resilient when they want to be, you've already had Jama-P exorcised from a maid of honor and a bride without my help at all! That guy's a hero in training, he's not gonna be easy to pry emotions out of to eat.” Pluie bared his fangs at her, but he didn't lean back down to continue his attempts, his focus exclusively on her.

“You underestimate me, _Love Angel_.” Momoko smirked at Pluie's response.

“I guess that's what happens when a high ranked demon such as yourself gets your butt continuously handed to you by three fifteen year-olds.” she pretended to look at her nails using the opportunity to glance at the Blond boy.

He looked for all intents and purposes that he'd stopped struggling, but Momoko could see the minute shifting of his right hand, Pluie was turned away from him to glare at Momoko so he was working in the demon's blind spot.

“You're nothing without Limone.” he snarled, and Momoko watched as the Blond boy's eyes darted back to her. She smiled a carefree smile and hoped that it came off as reassuring to him.

“Maybe, but who's the one with the Something Old and who's the one who can't hold onto it for more than three seconds?” Pluie's eyes narrowed before a wicked smile came across his face.

“Oh that's right Peach, I almost forgot about that. That bleeding heart of yours...” Momoko's smile turned brittle as Pluie summoned a Dagger with a flash of red energy.

“Maybe I _won't_ feed on this boy, you're right about him probably being more trouble than he's worth, but I don't see anything wrong with a bargaining chip, don't you?” Okay now was about time for Wedding Peach.

She squeezed her mirror a bit tighter and prepared to call out the incantation when—

“If you transform, I'll slit this 'hero in training's throat. Hand over the ring and he goes free.” Her jaw clenched, brows furrowed. Pluie's smirk grew, his eyes on her still.

“Please stay calm.” Momoko said, not breaking eye contact with Pluie but turning her head a bit to address the boy. “I won't let him hurt you.”

“I don't need some pink haired bitch who talks in riddles helping me.” the boy responded. Pluie turned to look back at the blond boy finally, only to face the palm of his hand. He'd slipped his hand through his blazer sleeve to get it free and he greeted Pluie with an explosion to his face.

Pluie flinched backward, his surprise enough to shake the other boy's hand free.

“ _Fuck off and die you creepy-ass bastard_ ” He hissed, fury burning in his eyes rebounding off the light of his explosives. And Momoko finally recognized him, he was the boy who took first in the Sports Festival, wasn't he? The surprisingly striking memory of the boy being tied to the first place podium flashed in her mind, the gold medal hanging from his mouth because people could barely get near him.

Now that really was just her luck, wasn't it?

“Wedding Beautiful Flower!” she chirped, her magic cool against her skin in comparison to the heat in the air. Momoko Hanasaki became Wedding Peach, she only spent a moment in the wedding dress she'd started out in, quickly changing into her Fighter Angel uniform; all pink ruffles and yellow ribbons, her long gloves giving the perfect pressure up her arms, and the jewels resting in her hair that matched the ones on her choker.

She cleared the last few steps between herself and the scene, her leg swiping right through Katsuki Bakugou's explosions to find home at Pluie's chin. She felt her heel brush his teeth and felt a weird sort of satisfaction at the idea that she might cause him to lose a tooth.

Pluie fell backward at Wedding Peach's kick, releasing Bakugou from the rest of his bindings. Not dissimilar to herself, his first response was to reel back his now freed leg and kick at Pluie to clear a little more distance between them. Though unlike Peach, Pluie anticipated a kick this time, so while he let Bakugou get to his feet, he didn't falter. Only magic can defeat magic.

Bakugou scrubbed at his cheek with his sleeve, some of the soot coming away and staining his white shirt, Peach positioned herself to stand between him and the demon that looked about a millisecond from killing them both.

Only to feel his hand on her shoulder as he shoved her out of his way.

“You know, I have no fucking idea what's going on here.” His voice was calm, but his hands were emanating sparks. Peach tried to pull him behind her again, but the second she touched him his gaze darted to her and... well if she thought that _Demons_ had some pretty nasty glares... he scowled a little deeper at her, but when she didn't try to touch him again Bakugou continued onto Pluie.

“But you sure as hell can't expect to make a goddamn meal or whatever out of me and expect me to just fucking _take it!_ ” he... well Momoko didn't want to say he _roared_ but it was a damn close thing. Pluie had gotten to his feet as well, and even though Bakugou was already a pretty tall guy Pluie towered over the two of them.

“Sacred Camera.” She summoned her camera with a flourish. Pluie raised a brow at the two of them, as though there wasn't a thin line of green demon blood trailing from the corner of his mouth and soot covering his face.

“You're right human.” Pluie tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear. “I'd be open for a fight, but the Love Angel's the one who would keep you from your well sought revenge.”

Okay she was officially done with this. Peach rushed for Pluie, tearing past Bakugou and throwing out her camera. “Bridal Flash!” light exploded from the shutter of the heart shaped camera, and Pluie raised his hand to cover his face.

“Hey!” She heard Bakugou shout behind her, but she'd already turned her camera over a few times in her hands to shift it into its sword form.

“Stay behind me!” She cried out, only sparing him a glance, He'd rolled his sleeves up past his elbows and snapped back at her

“I think the fuck not!” Peach tried desperately to not roll her eyes before lunging at Pluie again. This time she felt the air beside her crackle as Bakugou joined her.

Pluie's blade connected with hers for only a brief moment before the explosions going off in his face made his hand tilt just a bit, letting Peach use the momentum to slide her blade from his and make a swipe at his hand. He was able to catch her blade with his again, but it was closer than it normally was.

Bakugou aimed a kick at Pluie's side and when he moved to block it the shudder of Peach's camera (now positioned in the pommel of her sword) went off, stunning Pluie just long enough for her ally's kick to land home.

Pluie opened his mouth and Peach only had a moment to call out 'Brace yourself' before a demonic gust of wind poured from his fanged maw. She could only squint in the wind as she felt Pluie pull away, but she could see Bakugou beside her holding his ground just as well.

By the time the wind let up and either of them could see properly Pluie had begun to levitate, his dark green hair looking not a touch out of place despite the veritable hurricane he'd just summoned.

“Perhaps you were right about a hero in training not being worth the effort Wedding Peach, but you're wrong about your assumptions of success. Every fight only gives me better ideas on how to defeat you, and your pesky friends.”

And with a loud popping noise and a flash of red light, Pluie was gone.

Bakugou huffed beside her and she heard him mutter 'good fucking riddance' to himself. She sighed.

She recalled her transformation with a quick wave of her hand, her compact reappearing in her hand as her battle uniform melted into her school uniform once again.

“Are you hurt?” She flicked her mirror open, her own reflection glancing back at her for a moment before symbols in Angel script flitted across the screen.

Though she could see him rubbing at one of his wrists as the phantom pain of demon magic started to fade, he responded with a simple, if fitful “I'm fine.”

“Good.” She took a deep breath and looked around at the wind bent trees. “We should probably leave before somebody notices this.”

She glanced at him then and he looked... well not necessarily _angry_ but something anger-adjacent. Though perhaps that was just his normal face.

“That guy wasn't human.” he stated instead of a proper answer. Momoko pinched her lips into a thin line, she needed to contact Aphrodite... “He had like five quirks and he wasn't a Nomu, he _couldn't_ be human.” Nomu.. oh right! Those beasts that that 'League of Villains' made.

“No, he was a Demon. Those were magic.” he snorted, but when he looked at her there was no humor in his face.

“ _Magic?_ You expect me to believe that, do I look twelve to you?” He did that thing that she saw Hinagiku do all too often then, he stuffed his hands into his pockets and tilted his head to the side. He was trying to be intimidating, but all that she could think of was Hinagiku trying to scare the lacrosse team and getting her cheeks pinched for her efforts.

She huffed out a small laugh, and when his glare tightened further she found the right words. “Well you did just watch a guy with five quirks and a girl who could change her outfit and summon heart shaped weapons fight who both talked about Angels and Demons, so maybe the world is a little more confusing than you give it credit for.”

He looked like he'd bit into a lemon then, and Momoko was once again reminded off Hinagiku. But _unlike_ Hinagiku he reached over to grab her wrist in a vice and began to drag her out of the grove and back into the rest of the park.

“You are going to tell me _exactly_ what is going on you Pink haired Bitch.” Momoko pinched her lips to the side and pouted.

“My name is Peach.” Honestly she knew she should tell him her actual name, especially since it didn't really matter...

But she liked talking with humans about all of this stuff beforehand.

“No it's not.” He raised a brow at her. But she smiled back at him and he rolled his eyes. “Peach Bitch then.” She actually gave a surprised laugh at that.

“Do you give insulting names to everyone who saves your life?” He scowled at her joking tone.

“I could have taken him on my own, I didn't need your help!” Now they'd cleared the trees, now they had to be quieter.

So Momoko continued in a quieter tone.

“He had you pinned, you didn't even know _what_ you were fighting until I'd already saved you.” and there was the bitten lemon face again, this time accompanied by a fluster to his cheeks that was almost cute.

He really was like if Hinagiku was put in a blender with half the boys on the soccer team.

Momoko rarely felt clever around boys, she was far too quick to tears to form counterarguments. It was only while she was in the space between Wedding Peach and Momoko Hanasaki, being knowledgeable in a way that a human boy could never be, that she could be like this.

It was a nice feeling, being the one keeping a cute boy on his toes instead of the other way around.

“Whatever!” he snapped, picking up the pace and dragging her further, now toward the edge of the park. He'd stopped talking, steaming quietly; thankfully Momoko was able to angle him so they passed by the tree with her bag beside it so she didn't have to double back.

“Are you gonna tell me anything about this or are you going to try and taunt me into forgetting about it?” he finally spoke again. Momoko sighed and gestured toward a rapidly approaching bench.

“Darn, saw right through me.” She snapped her fingers in melodrama. He smirked at her in away Momoko could only describe as wolfish before sitting on one edge of the bench, snagging her bag from her before she could sit.

“So you don't run.” he stated simply when she raised a brow at him. She huffed and sat at a respectable distance, so they could speak quietly without invading each other's space.

“Where should I start....” she hummed to herself, plucking her mother's ring out from under her uniform and turning it over in her hands a few times.

“I don't fucking care, just start.” he responded, resting his arm against the back of the bench. Momoko snorted a laugh in surprise.

Maybe it was just the fact that she was slightly desperate for a new boy to chase but it was charming how he tried so hard to act aloof. She wondered if he was this transparent with his classmates or if it was just another Love Angel thing.

“Okay so... there's a whole lot of worlds that occupy about the same space. Places like the Dream World, the Astral Plane, and the Mortal Fae realm are... well they exist, but for the sake of explaining things simply, there's only two other worlds you should concern yourself with, the Angel World and the Demon World.

“The Angel world was made by the first sentient being that ever felt love. Its a place of light and the embodiment of all love felt by all creatures. It's populated by Angels, and ruled over by Goddess Aphrodite, Periodically over the ages Angels will come down to Earth to assist its peoples in times of distress, that's how the Greeks found out about Aphrodite and made their own goddess in her image.”

She could see him already rolling his eyes at her explanation. “I know, being told that the Old Gods are in some ways real is... not the easiest thing to believe, but it's the truth.

“And in many ways Demons are the opposite. Their world was made after the first sentient beings experienced hatred. They're ruled over by the embodiment of hate, Rain Devillia. She's.... basically Aprhodite's opposite. She sends demons to the human world a lot of the time, trying to stir the pot, create a bunch of hatred for her demons to feed on. That's why Pluie kept talking about how you weren't 'worth it'” He actually looked interested now.

“What, do they have to directly feed on people then?”

“Well no, they mostly gain their energy from the ambient emotional waves around humans. They only feed directly off humans when they really want a power up, that's why he was toying with you. He wanted to get stronger fast so he wanted to get you nice and angry to be easier to...” she waved a hand. “Yeah it's pretty gross.”

“He called you a Love Angel.” Bakugou prompted

“Right... so... there was this war, and the Angels were kinda losing. Things got really bad, like _really_ bad. So bad that the Demons nearly got hold of these powerful talismans the Sacred Four Somethings, the only thing that kept the Angel world from being Destroyed was... well Aphrodite, and her two top angels, Sir Limone, and Lady Celestia. Celestia was hurt though and when Limone and she used their magic to blast the Sacred Four down to the human realm she was taken with them. Aphrodite put up a force field to keep the demons out, and then Sir Limone went down to the human world to find Celestia and the Sacred Four.”

This was the weird part of the story, so she had to peek over every so often to make sure he wouldn't call her crazy. Well he wasn't looking at her, glaring off into the mid distance, but he hadn't said anything yet.

“He couldn't find them for awhile. Celestia apparently lost her memories and married a human under an assumed name.” She bit the inside of her cheek in thought. Should she tell him? It didn't matter if she did or didn't she supposed. “And she had me. As it turned out the ring my dad proposed to my mom with was one of the Sacred Four.” She tilted her head up to hold out her Mother's ring. “Apparently the power of the Something Old went into her ring when she married dad. She regained her memories when I was like 3 and left to fight in the war, so she gave it to me to keep safe.

“The Demons really want the Sacred Four, they think if they fill them with hatred they'll be strong enough to destroy Love itself. My friends Lily and Daisy took up the fight to become Love Angels too, though we're not entirely sure how that happened, but so far the only one that's been active enough for us to know of is Mama's ring. So until the others start to become active the only thing we can do is keep the ring safe and save people from demons.”

He was quiet a little longer, closing his eyes and brows furrowing.

“You do realize that everything about that sounds absolutely fucking batshit when layed out, right?”

Momoko chuckled nervously to herself. “Try living it.” she countered.

He looked at her then, face unimpressed, but a brow raised. “I'll give ya that.” he shrugged, before continuing. “I mean you did basically just confess to Vigilantism to a Hero in training, so you've at least got guts.”

Momoko snorted. “Does it count as vigilantism if it's a war that'd been going on way longer than our town has even existed?” all the same being implied to be a Vigilante did make her gut twist in anxiety. She knew being a Love Angel was a thankless job, but usually that meant it was a blameless job too. The idea of being looked upon as just some Vigilante was kind of...well it wasn't good.

“Yes.” he answered immediately “Pretty sure most police officers would agree too.” he smirked slightly and Momoko felt the anxiety in her gut loosen.

“Call me crazy but I don't think you'll be turning me in to the police.” At first she was thinking on Aphrodite's gift, but the way he folded his arms and darted his eyes away from her implied another.

“You don't know that.”

“I do. If you actually considered fighting demons vigilantism you wouldn't have used your Quirk to help me.” He cringed and she knew he was busted. “And I already admitted that I use magic to fight, not my Quirk so you don't have any proof that I'm actually doing anything illegal.”

“Wait, do you even _have_ a Quirk? If Demons don't have them then do Angels not..?”

“I do have a Quirk yes. It's pretty weak since I'm only half human, but I did develop one.” he raised a brow at her and she shrugged. “Empathy compulsion, nothing fancy, but somehow in line with the whole 'Love Angel' Gig.

“Anyway, yeah, I think you believe me. At least you're willing to. Else you'd have interrupted me while I was telling you the story pretty early in. So I think you understand the importance of us Love Angels staying unknown. And, for what it's worth, my father and I watch the UA sports festival every year, and you were very... well... Passionate!” She wasn't even being kind that had been her first impression until her father had called him a 'little psycho'. Bakugou glared at her, and she could only hope she looked sincere, the last thing she wanted was him accusing her of something like lying or mocking just to get him to keep a secret for her. Thankfully he seemed to accept it and continued on.

“But can you really not tell anyone? If that Limone or whatever got involved you could probably convince at least _one_ hero agency to help you guys out.” Aphrodite's voice rang through her head, that first thing she'd told her after Lily and Daisy took up the fight with her.

_“A war between Angels and Demons is no place for humans” Aphrodite's voice was calm but firm, just like everything else about her. “Your secrecy is the only thing that keeps them safe, from what Limone tells me the human world has changed greatly”_

“A Human in a war between Angels and Demons is just a corpse.” She stated simply “Doesn't matter how powerful their Quirk is.” and suddenly the lighthearted edge to the conversation was gone, Momoko found herself uncomfortable again.

“Humans have the potential for deep hatred, but also for deep love. But as a species you're weak to magic of any kind. How's your wrists, by the way?” She smiled crookedly as Bakugou turned indignant again.

“HE CAUGHT ME OFF GUARD FUCK YOU” and it was back. Momoko giggled, tossing an errant lock of her hair behind her shoulder as it slid out of place.

“Perhaps that's just it, but I get the feeling Aphrodite won't let us play experiments with random humans until we figure out if they can actually fight Demons or not.”

Bakugou's expression flattened at that, brows furrowing, and Momoko could swear she'd heard him mutter something to himself along the lines of 'god, your life sounds so goddamn depressing' She put her hands back together in her lap, flicking the Sacred Mirror open and closed. For a moment there was silence. Momoko wondering what her next step should be, and Love Knew what Bakugou was thinking.

“Fucking... goddammit.” he cursed quietly before running a hand through his bangs. “Let me help.”

For a moment Momoko was dumbstruck, she must have looked so silly, her face slack with shock, eyes wide and eyebrows probably disappearing behind her bangs in shock.

“Huh?” She asked rather intelligently.

“You heard me!” he snapped, arms folding, scowl firmly on his face. And really, what could she say to that?

“Well did _you_ not hear _me?_ ” she settled on “There's no place for a human in a war between Angels and Demons, you'd get yourself killed like... Immediately, Why would you _ever_ -”

“Who said I'd be fighting? I'm training to be the Number One hero I can't get caught using my quirk in fights before I get my provisional licence!” he sniped at her, teeth grit and staring at her like she was some sort of idiot. “Besides, if I cared about Danger I wouldn't be in the Hero Program in the first place!”

That was... actually kind of sweet. She felt a small smile come onto her face and decided maybe this was the right next step to take. She folded her arms and leaned against the bench as well, purposefully mirroring him.

“Well I suppose not! So tell me, Hero-in-training Bakugou Katsuki, why should we Love Angels ally ourselves with you, a mere human?” She chirped, and his response.. was surprisingly thought out. It made Momoko wonder if he'd been thinking about what to say _as_ she'd told the story to him.

“Well you can't stay a secret forever. Whether people aren't possessed or unconscious, someone less level headed than me might find out and they might try to squeal.” She snickered at his words.

“Perhaps. But what would you do if you were allied with us?”

“Simple, I'd use my status as Hero-in-training or eventually, Pro Hero, to tell anyone not to squeal or there'd be trouble. Having someone in the system would be smart.” He shrugged.

And honestly that did sound nice, someone who knew how the system worked so they could inevitably work their way around it easier.

“I see...” She said quietly. “That would be nice.” He smirked to himself and she glanced down at the Sacred Mirror once again. She could practically see Aphrodite in the reflection of the polished heart at the top.

Dammit.

“Honestly it sounds like a nice idea to me. But Unfortunately I'm not the only one you'd need to convince.” She held out the mirror for him to look at. “I have to call Lily and Daisy, we're gonna need to be in agreement before we take the matter to Sir Limone and Goddess Aphrodite.”

“You use your _Magic mirror_ to call your teammates?” the exasperation in his tone was honestly pretty funny. As was the follow up of “Oh great, now my life is a shitty Magical Girl anime.”

She could just imagine watching him try to work alongside Yuri and Hinagiku. God the snipe fests he and Hinagiku would get into... It would be a struggle to get them all together to talk about Love Angel stuff of course, granted there's both the issue of Bakugou going to a different school as them, and Papa not letting her invite boys over, even for projects if he's not in the house, but it would be a fun challenge. 

“Oh, but if you want to argue your case yourself you're gonna need to scoot in a bit, so they can see us both.”

Now it was his turn to look shocked. However, it only lasted for a moment before his whole face went red, brows pinched together and mouth a thin line.

He really was cute when he wasn't scowling at the very concept of the world.

All the same he scooted in close, and Momoko held the compact between them. He was warmer than she expected, maybe it was his Quirk causing him to run a little hotter than most, maybe it was from the fluster still heavy on his cheeks, arms folded and scowl firmly back in place.

He knew barely anything about all of this, just barely more than Momoko herself did when she'd taken up the fight, and he was still willing to jump in feet first. To a war of Hate and Love, Demons and Angels, going off nothing but the word of a girl his age to whom he owes nothing.

It's people like him that make the war worthwile to her. Not the nebulous concept of love, not the existential fear of hatred destroying it, Not even the fact that this fight was originally her mothers. The fact that there were people who were just... unilaterally willing to help made her feel strong enough to take on a dozen Demons at once. Momoko could see why he had such potential to be a great Hero.

She hoped he made it all the way.

“Bridal Flash.”

Bridal Flash was her strangest spell. When cast through her camera she could eradicate lower ranked Demons and blind higher ranked ones, and when cast through her mirror... well...

The light covered the both of them for a moment, a flash Momoko had seen many times, even if she wasn't an angel she doubted it would have worked on her at this point.

She didn't want to turn to watch, to see Katsuki Bakugou, a possible ally's memories get taken from him. It was never a fun sight, to watch the light of memory leave a person's eyes before they rolled back into their head and their body dropped.

And soon enough she felt his head hit her shoulder, his breathing deep and steady.

She, Yuri, and Hinagiku had theorized about what made the Bridal Flash so versatile, and the closest they could come up with was that it deletes the influence of a Demon. The difference was that the camera addressed its physical form, and the mirror its mental presence. 

“I'm sorry Bakugou Katsuki, it could have been fun, but Aphrodite would never have gone for it.” And she was sure of it. Aphrodite was the final say in all of this, and the process of wiping human's memories really didn't have any uncertain terms to it.

She called Sir Limone with the mirror then, she didn't know where he lived, but Limone would. This wasn't the first time such a thing had happened and it no doubt wouldn't be the last.

Thankfully Bakugou's parents weren't at home so Momoko didn't have to think up a good lie while Limone vanished from sight, he could simply teleport the both of them into his room and teleport them out.

Just a wave of Limone's magic put the boy out of his school uniform and into casual clothes, and Momoko carefully arranged him to be comfortable on his bed.

“It was nice meeting you.” She said quietly when he turned in bed to clutch at his pillow.

“Peach, we need to go now. I understand your disappointment, but we must remain unknown.” Limone stated, polite but firm, as was his usual response when dealing with the three of them.

“He wanted to help us. He deserves a proper goodbye.” Limone sighed, but he lingered in the room with her.

She almost wanted to touch him, perhaps ruffle his hair like a protective big sister. But she knew that would be crossing a line.

“I never told you my real name, did I? How rude of me, I'm sorry.” Limone touched her shoulder.

“I'm Momoko.” And like that, with a flash of angelic light, the two of them were gone.

Leaving a potential ally, friend, and cute boy to flirt with, to sleep away his memories of an afternoon of Angels and Demons.

Such a shame.


	2. What the Poets are

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopelessly hopeful or just hopeless enough?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the title song from 'Say you'll remember me' to 'Flooding the sky (and blurring the darkness)' because I felt the Hush Sound Song worked a little better than the Taylor Swift song
> 
> Also warning for the Hormonal part of the Teenage experience. It's nothing too egregious, but If you don't wanna deal with the secondhand embarrassment I'd suggest skipping the scenes, starting at "Every dorm had a small balcony" until "It was the third day into House Arrest"

It was only after Kamino that he started to take comfort in the dreams.

Of course, when they'd first started they were a nuisance, confusing and disjointed. He wouldn't have cared if he could barely remember them, he'd just shrug and consider it a pleasant change from that reoccurring dream where he's trying to leave the house but if he doesn't grab hold of something he'll be sucked back into his room.

No, when they'd first started they were an annoyance, something to brood about over breakfast and his morning workout and forget about by the time he got on the train. But after... everything....in a weird way it made sense.

He didn't have to like it, but he'd rather have a recurring dream about a strange girl who talks to him without him being able to make out the words than a recurring dream that was half memory-half nightmare about his idol dying on live TV and knowing as he watched the Symbol of Peace's blood splatter the broken concrete that it was all his fault.

No, he'd rather the Mystery Girl. He knew he didn't quite deserve such a solace after what he'd failed to do, but he had more than enough time to brood over his failures for the rest of the summer while he was awake. At least he had a shot at peace in his dreams.

The Mystery Girl was a comfort. An irritating comfort, but a comfort nonetheless.

He could never make out her words, but her voice was clear as a bell. The ebb and flow of her spoken words, just barely able to pick out certain things like the chirp to her 'I's and the lightest of stutters in her 'to's. He supposed it was his brain trying to compensate for not being able to make out her face, but it was still irritating to be able to notice such silly things about someone but not be able to see their fucking face.

Whenever he'd try to turn to look at her, even if he was _just_ lucid enough to know that he was dreaming, an invisible force would turn his head to stare into the mid distance, or glare at the schoolbag he held on his lap. It wasn't his; his backpack was resting on the ground by his foot, and he was holding a beaten up looking suitcase with a charm hanging from the clasp. It must have been hers, that was the only explanation he could think of.

He could make out just what the fluffy charm was just fine, a pink pom pom with little googly eyes glued onto it. Like someone had wanted to make one themselves but hadn't really wanted to put in too much effort.

She chuckled beside him and he felt a spike of irritation, knowing on some level that her laughter was at his expense. Though he still couldn't look at her, she said something that he interpreted as a question and when he opened his mouth to respond his voice was as clouded and unintelligible as hers.

They went back and forth for a bit and then, then he felt the same force that would keep him from looking at her guide him to the side, until his chin brushed the firm fabric of a blazer. There was soft hair tickling his cheek and the scent of fakey flower shampoo assaulted his nose. He felt his cheeks heat up and crossed his arms at the forced proximity to the total stranger, still unable to look to the side and take her in.

But glancing down he saw his own reflection in a heart shaped mirror, catching for the first time a glimpse at her. He still couldn't quite make out her face, but he could see two things, a cloud of pink hair between himself and her, and the quickest glimpse of blue eyes.

Like... crazy electric blue too. The kind of color assholes in the soap operas that his mother loved would describe with pompous prose of flowers and other stupid shit like that.

And that's when he'd wake up.

He probably shouldn't have been thinking about it that deeply. He probably should have done the simple thing, wake up irritated, but with a full nights sleep, and maybe briefly ponder over why he couldn't match even one of his standard descriptors to her before letting it go.

But Re: the human brain's inability to make faces out of nothing, He must have known her from _somewhere_. There weren't many people with blue eyes that he knew, and even less with the combination of Pink hair. (actually he'd only ever known one kid with blue eyes and pink hair and he moved to America in the sixth grade) His memory wasn't _the Best_ but he'd hoped that he'd be able to jog his own memory out of sheer frustration—something that usually worked actually, his memory got better the more irritated he was at not being able to remember something—and nothing was coming. He knew something was there, something _had_ to fucking be there, but he couldn't answer his own damn question.

It had been like someone had stuck their hands into his brain and put up a big roadblock between him and whoever this person was.

He had intended his musings over the dream to just be in annoyance, something for him to sulk over over his breakfast and morning workout, and forget about by the time he was on the train to school.

And then Summer came. And then the Training Camp and everything that followed.

And now it was something to think about so he didn't have to think about worse things.

While he'd expected to spend the rest of summer break alone, like always, every so often Kirishima, Ashido, Kaminari, and Sero would show up at his door and strong arm him into coming with them on some asinine 'adventure'; which for the most part was usually just something dumb like an afternoon downtown.

He appreciated it. He griped and complained as they dragged him from arcade to cafe to another arcade, but he appreciated it.

And Kirishima and Kaminari went hiking with him one weekend so that was cool.

He wasn't ready to face everything yet, he could feel it in his gut that he wasn't ready yet. So when he was reminded about it the best he could do was distract himself with the girl. The strange steady looks his friends would shoot him every so often, the sharp commentary accompanied with minor smacks from his mother about how much trouble he made for everyone and that he can't 'let it happen again' and making him snap back out of sheer reflex. Everything that was even vaguely about what had happened would bring forth the memories.

Flashes of a darkened bar, that disgusting blue haired asshole's face, and All Might withering away, would do their best to start playing behind his eyes but he did _his_ best to overwrite them with trying to construct the girl's face in his head for the thousandth time, a Valiant, Fruitless, Distraction; but it would get him through the moment and he was thankful for that.

The summer was almost over, his room in boxes about to be transported to his 'dorm' in UA when the dreams began to change.

* * *

He wasn't afraid, but he was baffled, and angry.

Dark greens and tans and browns were all moving in a messy blob above him that made his eyes ache when he focused too hard on it. He was laying down, the hard ground barely able to register in his blurry mind. He couldn't move his hands, it felt like they were asleep, but at the same time in pain. When he tried to turn his head to take in what it was that was that had him bound.

Glowing Sea Anemones. Their neon tentacles wrapped around his wrists and anchoring him to the dirt.

Well that explained the stinging. He remembered when he was little and his Quirk had only just begun to manifest, the skin on his palms was still hyper sensitive and his parents had let him loose around the touch tanks at the aquarium.

He'd been perhaps a little too rough with the Anemone and laid his hand flat on it. It shouldn't have stung, but that's what happens when you handle a touch tank creature roughly and your hands were already sensitive to touch because the callouses that would later help you withstand your quirk hadn't formed yet.

He looked back up at the blur of colors to speak but, like in the previous dreams, he couldn't make out his own words. The blur he was glaring up at was making noises too, something that... made him think it was a person. Or rather, it was supposed to be a person.

He struggled and yelled but he could only hear a sharp laugh from the blur of color before him. Then part of the dark green turned yellow and...

There was pain.

The distant kind of white noise that pain became in dreams but pain nonetheless.

His throat ached to scream, to curse, to do anything to lessen the stinging white noise that was filling his brain, but he grit his teeth and focused instead on his freedom.

He heard more than felt his jaw crack.

He fired off his quirk as much as he could, but his hands were still too dry from the dark orbs the blob had trapped them in, and he couldn't quite get enough of a kickback to blast his attacker off of him.

And then he heard her voice.

This time he could turn his head to take her in all he wanted and he was _just_ lucid enough to take a bit of satisfaction in that. She wasn't anywhere near as blurry as the person who was attacking him, but she was still a bit obscure at the edges.

He couldn't quite make out her face beyond the general shape—something that he would look back on with irritation in the waking world—her hair was practically floating around her body in a pink cloud, but her silhouette was perfectly illuminated in the afternoon light.

She was short. Not an ounce of proper muscle on the little shrimp. Her stance was horrible, her feet were planted correctly in the ground, and she didn't look like she was going to fall all over herself, but her back was hunched and her legs were too straight, if this blur creature attacked her she'd go flying.

God if this thing had him pinned so easily, who knew what it could do to her.

He could hear himself shouting, and he heard the girl and the blob talk back and forth, seemingly not paying attention to him, and he'd been about to object to that, because god did he hate being ignored when a conversation was clearly about him, but then she drew closer.

Her eyes met his, his focus was able to sharpen enough to see them harden with an experienced determination he'd only ever seen in pro heroes. Her gaze darted to his bindings and then he understood.

“You underestimate me, ______.”

“I guess that's what happens when a High ranked _____ such as yourself gets your butt continuously handed to you by three fifteen year olds.”

He'd never understood her words before.

* * *

Maybe the stress was finally taking its toll. Katsuki knew he was tense as all hell lately. No amount of distractions could detract from that fact; he felt wound tight, high strung. Well, alright even he could admit to himself that he was _always_ a little high strung, but it felt worse now. Like one of those stupid wind up toys that wasn't being let do its stupid wind up action.

He'd always said how much he couldn't wait to be living on his own, to his friends and to his parents, and really, moving into the dorms should have been the best thing for it.

He didn't know why he was so nervous. Maybe it was just all the stress he'd been soundly ignoring wanting to make itself known by worming its way into something else. Yeah probably.

“I doubt you'll need so much.” His mom hummed from the doorway as he sealed up another box. “I mean, it's not like you'll be across the country or anything, you can afford to leave a _couple_ things here. Less stuff to unpack and re-pack.” That was a weird thing to say, granted they all knew that they were to basically put in their own furniture into the dorm rooms.

“Why would I leave any of my shit here?”

Then his Mom started to do that thing that she did where she glanced to the far left, looking all impassive and high and mighty as she ranted at him. Goddamn did he hate it when she'd go on these 'be rational' rants. Turning every little thing into a life lesson that he supposedly was failing at.

But she hadn't started swatting yet, so he had some time to tune her out.

He felt like he should be happy that there were only a couple more days in this house. He was sure his classmates had to feel the same. Well, who wasn't happy to leave their family's house earlier than expected without being like... thrown out or something?

He wondered if the mystery girl would be relieved if she was in the same situation. He furrowed his brow and let his mother's words pass over him like a mist, pointedly _not_ letting anything sink in.

He'd never been able to make out words before. This wasn't even the first time he'd had this version of the dream, complete with his damn brain turning whatever it was that had actually held him down into Sea Anemones. But he'd never been able to parse out words. Hearing that voice he'd only ever heard in muffled monologues and distant sounds finally make sense in his head.

It felt weird.

He supposed now that he had some context for what she was saying, she had a nice voice; or at least, a voice that didn't immediately grate on his ears and aggravate him just by hearing it.

What was the thing that had attacked him? Why was such a clearly amateurish girl who claimed to be his age so _chummy_ with it? Why did it take him down so easily but she seemed perfectly confident facing it? Her words implied that he'd lost to her and two others, so if she wasn't alone where were her friends? What were those few words that were silenced between both the blur and the girl?

“Hey! Have you even been listening to me?!” he glanced back up at his mother, his gaze had been slowly sinking back to the box he was taping up, making it a little too obvious he wasn't paying attention.

“Honestly I started tuning you out a while ago.” His mom could always tell when he was just saying something to spite her, so he tacked on “You been giving me the same fucking lecture for three years now.” Her jaw clenched and Katsuki felt himself mirror the motion.

As either of their shouts filled his room he wondered idly if Mystery Girl had fights like this with her mom on the regular.

Because despite his nerves he certainly won't be missing it.

* * *

Every dorm had a small balcony. He hadn't used his much in the few days it had been as they all began to settle in, but it was nice to lean against if he needed a small breather. Whether be it from his thoughts or homework, a balcony was quite the upgrade to the tiny window in his room back home.

And it was there, on that stone balcony, that he found her. It was a warm night about a week since they'd started classes again and she was perched on the railing, it would have been almost impossible to see her if not for the fact that his curtains had been open and the glass paneling cracked for the fresh air before he'd turned out the light.

As it was the moonlight cast her in shadows and muted tones, he could see her hair was bright, but he couldn't tell the color, he could tell she was wearing some sort of leotard and skirt, but the actual design was lost to him. Her eyes shined against the moonlight and he could see the laughter in them as she sat on the edge of the balcony. Looking for all the world like she belonged there, long pale legs crossed prettily as she sat on the cool stone.

In a weird way, it almost felt like she did; belong there that was. Katsuki approached the sliding door, She blinked at him with curiosity. He placed his hand on the edge of the door, she hopped to the ground, the muffled sound of heels clicking against the stone somehow still making its way to his ears.

And when he opened the door fully she breezed right past him and into his room, as though this were a common occurrence.

He caught the scent of faux wildflowers when her hair fluttered past him, that kind of fake almost plasticky scent that came from off-brand shampoo, She walked so daintily she was nearly floating as he watched her wander around his room, taking it in, in all its darkened glory. He hadn't really invited anyone into his room since they'd all moved into the dorms, the only people who'd seen the inside of it at all were his friends and that was just from everyone suddenly having free time around each other and the fact that the lot of them were a bunch of persistent assholes.

So watching her shiny polished disk eyes look over his desk, his posters, and his knick knacks made him feel a little... off. Not necessarily self-conscious, but just... off.

Eventually when she'd had her fill of the room she'd wandered over to his bed, sitting daintily on the side. She turned her head to look at him again and he could swear she was expecting something. He had no idea what she could be expecting, but it seemed like his body knew the answer on its own.

He closed the sliding door and took those last few steps to sit beside her on the bed. She smiled at him, eyes glittering happily. She was all light and shadow, she had no business making him feel so warm just with a smile, but he still felt his cheeks heat up against his will when she placed her hand atop of his.

Her hand was soft, but it didn't quite feel right, like she was wearing a glove, perhaps she was, it was too dark for him to tell. Though she didn't seem to have any problems seeing in the darkness, she leaned over and placed her other hand on his knee, a silent question that somehow he understood immediately.

Idly, he wondered how it would feel to kiss a shadow.

He couldn't quite make out the curve of her cheek, so instead he reached for her eyes, aiming just to the right so he could find the side of her face. Her skin was soft and warm beneath his touch, feeling nothing like how it looked. She closed her eyes at the sensation when he dragged his hand down her face to cup her cheek; only the tiniest sliver of light peeking out from behind her eyelids keeping him from losing sight of her entirely. Her bottom lip felt soft under his thumb and curiosity won over politeness as he leaned in to press his lips against hers.

He felt her chuckle into the kiss and could hear the shuffling of fabric against skin. When she pulled her arms around his neck to pull them closer together he felt the warm skin of her hands against him. A shudder crawled up his spine at the feeling. He'd always known he'd had a sensitive neck, but no one had ever touched it with such intent before.

As though sensing his thoughts she broke from the kiss, to lightly drag her warm lips down the corner of his mouth, dipping down to the space between his chin and his neck.

He felt himself gasp in shock when she began to kiss and suck along his neck. He'd fantasized about what getting this far with someone would feel like, would the first hickey he ever experienced be one he gave or one he got, and other questions a teenage boy would muse about when even he grew tired of plotting out his future a hundred times over, but he'd never considered that it might be under these circumstances.

Her lips didn't hurt, he'd heard a few stories about stuff like this being a bit painful, but all he felt was a light surprise when she sucked harder than anticipated and a sharp tingle that made him grunt a bit whenever it came. He supposed whoever made those rumors was just weak.

He slid his suddenly freed hand into her hair and marveled for a moment at just how soft it was. He smiled just a touch when he felt one of her hands start to roam down his chest, feeling the chords of muscle beneath the thin shirt he had on. He almost wanted to flex just to feel her startle at his relaxed stomach muscles tightening into the abs he'd spent so long accumulating.

Then the hand that was wrapped around his shoulders took his currently empty hand and guided it to her waist. He felt himself being slowly lowered as she pressed herself tighter against him, and once his back hit his mattress her lips had reached the collar of his shirt.

Without even pausing for a moment she slid the collar down his shoulder to keep up her trail, her hand dipping underneath his shirt. He clutched her hair when she grazed her teeth across a certain part of the very base of his neck.

He was baffled at how firmly she'd taken control of the situation. It wasn't _bad_ per se, but it wasn't right. Carefully, he started to slide the hand that was on her waist further downward, letting the silky material of her outfit catch and release from his fingertips every so often, until he found the folds of her skirt.

She hummed from her spot sucking a bruise into his shoulder, appreciative when he gave her rear a small experimental squeeze.

She moved her attentions back to the top of his neck, specifically that first spot she'd kissed, right beneath his jaw.

She lingered there for a moment, her free hand traveling to the hand that was in her hair and gently prying it away. He almost couldn't feel it, her touch was feather light as she twined their fingers together. She hummed against his neck, like she was preparing for something.

And then she _bit_

* * *

Have you ever moaned so loudly from a dream that you woke yourself up?

Have you ever been so pissed, both at the dream happening in the first place and for your dumbass self for ruining it?

Because Katsuki would feel way the fuck better about his predicament to know that he wasn't alone.

As it was he woke up about a half hour before his alarm, the room dark and to some baffling degree, still expecting a girl made of light and shadow to be curled up in bed next to him.

His face was flushed, his heart racing, he was huffing for breath, and he really wished that this was one of those scant few days where he couldn't remember his dreams.

Unfortunately a problem that was quick to arise beneath his blankets made sure he certainly wouldn't be forgetting this.

It. Was. Mortifying.

While, Alright, he was man enough to admit to himself that this wasn't the first time he'd had a steamy dream about someone—some of them far more traumatizing to remember than this—This was a special case, granted he both didn't know who it was about, and knew exactly who it was about.

It was one thing to have steamy dreams about classmates or strangers you saw on the bus, and another thing entirely to have them about a completely different recurring dream. That was just fucking cruel. At least he didn't have to actually see Mystery Girl when she got close, that would have been the literal worst way to finally be able to piece together the girl's fucking face.

It was always right before tests that his dreams got weird, so in a weird way he supposed it made sense that since he was _already_ having weird dreams they'd get even fucking stranger. The next day was the Provisional License exam, so it wasn't _too_ weird.

It was still absolutely fucking aggravating, but it wasn't without precedent.

And it really made him hope the walls were soundproof.

* * *

It was the third day into House Arrest and with the goddamn whirlwind that had been his life over the past couple of days he hadn't even been thinking of the dreams.

In between finally being forced to face his emotional bullshit, burying the still-bloody hatchet with Deku, and learning of the strange relation between him and All Might, Katsuki just didn't have the mental fortitude to deal with them.

His metaphorical wounds had been opened and bare to the world—though the world at the time of it happening had only consisted of Deku and All Might—and they were still raw at the edges. From what he knew now the information regarding how One For All worked and the sheer inevitability of All Might's final fight, it was a balm on his nerves. Not necessarily a true cure, no one could talk themselves out of feeling bad about something—god if he could do that his life would be so much fucking easier—But it was getting better. He wasn't thinking often about the dreams, maybe because he didn't _need to_ any more.

He wasn't cured of the dread that laced his gut, or the fears of being second fiddle to someone else forever and never able to stand on his own, but the painful exposed nerve that it had once been had worn down a little. Dulled by a couple days of cleaning and actually being able to talk to Deku without the very sight of him filling him with a weird mixture of aggravation and insecurity.

Maybe the reason why things decided to happen on this day was specifically _because_ he hadn't been obsessing over the dreams as a coping mechanism. While he'd been blessed with a dreamless sleep on the night of the fight (one of the very few perks of a good long cry in the darkness of your own room) the first two nights of his and Deku's in-dorm suspension had been a return to the normal format of his recurring dreams—thankfully.

“Goddamnit.” He cursed quietly. He'd just finished sweeping the damn floors and had decided to retreat to his room for a quick shower before dinner, but of fucking course he'd underestimated the amount of conditioner he still had.

Honestly why didn't companies make the conditioner bottle bigger? It always ran out first.

While he was glad he'd started checking before actually making his way down to the showers it was pretty fucking aggravating that he couldn't exactly solve the issue, restricted as he was to the dorms.

Everyone was already back so it wasn't like he could steal someone's stash—and even if he could, that was tacky—so his only options were at that time to just go without and use only shampoo (ew) or just go without showering (extra ew)

“Lesser of two fucking Evils I guess.” he finally conceded to himself and tossed his empty conditioner bottle into the waste bin by his door. Deku's exile ended tomorrow so he'd be trash collecting on his own, but they'd already done the trash today so it wasn't like he could bring it anywhere else.

Kirishima was already heading for the elevator when he'd exited into the hallway and the asshole grinned his toothy grin and waved the second he caught sight of him.

Christ how the hell did he get a bunch of friends who were literally sunshine incarnate? Why the hell was _this_ the one time something traditionally considered lucky happened to him? He made a show of rolling his eyes and Kirishima laughed at him.

“Hey Bakugou!” He chirped. “You headin' down to the showers?”

“What's it to you?”

“I was actually gonna grab one too! Worked up quite a sweat today!” His hair was drooping a bit at the spikes, proof of his claim granted how much work his friend put into that terrible style.

He clenched his jaw a bit at the allusion to how the rest of the class was going on without him. All the shit he'd need to catch up on, mentally and physically.

He grunted noncommittally before crossing his arms. Which looking back on only a few short hours later he wouldn't be sure would classify as a mistake or a blessing, but in the moment was just a reflex. Kirishima caught sight of his shower basket.

“Oh, you use 2-in-1? Never pegged you for time saving stuff.”

“It's not fucking 2-in-1! Who fucking uses that shit beyond fucking ten year olds!?” he snapped. Kirishima grinned crookedly at him as he continued. “My fucking conditioner ran out, and I can't get any more _because I'm fucking grounded!_ I'm not some goddamn degenerate that thinks those shitty 'combo' bottles do anything!”

“You're like the only person I know who would consider using cheap shampoo the mark of a degenerate.”

Katsuki was about to snap back at him, about to insist that he did so because he had fucking self respect, but Kirishima beat him to the punch.

“You know I have a spare conditioner bottle in my room, hold the elevator and I can grab it for you.”

The elevator doors opened right afterward. Because of course they did.

When Kirishima returned, grin brightening when he saw Katsuki standing against the elevator door to keep it open, glaring at the blinking '1st floor' button. Someone had been trying to get the elevator to come down for about half of the minute it had taken for Kirishima to rifle through his drawers and return.

Of course any sense of gratitude he felt at his friend letting him borrow something was eclipsed by sheer skepticism and exasperation.

“What.... Is that?”

Kirishima joined him in the elevator, and as the door slid shut he gave Katsuki a better look at the bottle.

A pink and white bottle with a shiny label covered in assorted flowers.

Confirming his suspicions he glanced down at Kirishima's other arm and saw his own hair care products, the steel grey of a far more masculine brand.

“A Gag gift from my cousin.” Kirishima responded easily. “I stole her shampoo _one time_ when we were staying over with my Uncle and it spilled all over the bathroom sink. I hadn't gotten around to getting rid of the two bottles and they ended up in my Toiletries box, good luck huh?”

Though 'luck' wasn't exactly a word he'd use to describe it, he'd be remiss to pass up on an opportunity to only slightly change up his shower routine instead of just going without conditioner for the next couple of days before he could get another bottle himself.

“I guess.” he took the offered bottle and read the generic label a couple of times. 'Wildflower wash' spelled out along the top in fancy script. Sounded like a fucking generic label too.

“Your cousin's got weird fucking taste in shampoo.”

“Tell me about it...” Kirishima laughed and Bakugou quickly shuffled around his arms to hide the bottle with his towel. Good timing too, as just as he'd hidden the white lid from prying eyes the elevator doors pinged open on the bottom floor.

At least it was just fucking Bird Brain. There were no odd looks or possibility of anyone finding out that he was gonna smell like a fucking scented candle. Hopefully no one _would_ find out, but granted how everyone was basically living on top of eachother he wasn't gonna hold his fucking breath.

He was gonna wait until he actually _did_ smell like a scented candle before he got pissed at people noticing.

By the time he actually took a testing sniff of the fake frou frou conditioner he was already well into his damn shower.

And of course, that was when shit hit the fan.

Because he recognized the scent. The cheapo shampoo that spelled like plastic and fake Wildflowers. Not too much plastic though. Cheap and off brand, but nothing outrageous.

Mystery Girl.

Wedding Peach.

He supposed it was just his luck that it would hit him once he'd stopped thinking about it. Once his emotional bullshit was on the mend and he didn't _need_ to obsess over it did the blurry images and censored words sharpen into clarity.

Like a mental damn had burst.

It didn't hurt, it didn't startle him, he didn't even have to lean against anything as the weight of his memories of a single few hours returned to him.

It was such a short time he'd forgotten, but it was so dense with knowledge and experience that he had to spend a long moment just standing under the spray of hot water as the dreams he'd been having sharpened themselves as he thought back on them.

Magic.

Magic existed in the world.

It sounded so stupid when said, even to himself, stupid and childish, like some fairytale people told their children back when heroes were less reliable than they were now. Some teenagers that used magic and fought against forces beyond our human comprehension...

Magic, and Angels, and Demons and everything he'd known wasn't real by the time he was five.

He was fifteen and it was more real than he ever thought.

It was that thought that did make his knees feel a bit wobbly, though while he wasn't about to pitch over he did brace an arm against the wall for a moment as he felt himself sway.

The glowing markings on the Demon's cheeks, the strange alien pain as his muscles all tensed and released at once, reminding him vaguely of what he'd researched of seizures.

He remembered how it hurt.

He remembered how she'd saved him.

Her pink hair like a banner behind her as she'd called out magic words and transformed.

Those big blue soap opera eyes as she chuckled and asked what he'd do as an ally to the Angels.

Those words...

_”Bridal Flash.”_

He'd blacked out and now it was made clear just what had happened.

He felt the rage, familiar and easy, return to his gut. Rolling and boiling at the deception. This wasn't like Deku, this wasn't a misunderstanding blown out of proportion.

He'd offered to _help_ her and she'd lied to him about it.

She _erased his memories_ ; she'd reached into his head and blocked off the stuff she didn't like.

His fists clenched, his teeth grit until he felt his jaw crack.

_I never told you my real name, did I? How rude of me I'm sorry._

“That lying bitch.”

“What was that?”

_I'm Momoko._

“That Lying Bitch!”

“Bakugou?”

“ _That Lying Bitch!_ ”

* * *

Shouto had just wanted to take a quick shower before dinner, his right side was still pretty sweaty from how much he'd used his left side during class and he'd feel way better after spending a few minutes under a shower head.

He hadn't even opened the door before he'd heard the repeated shout of 'That lying Bitch' followed by Kirishima's equally loud shouts of confusion as he tried to make sense of Bakugou's daily nonsense.

“....Nope.” He said quietly to himself, pivoting on his heel and instead making a beeline for Uraraka. She had a secret stash of wet wipes for when she had nausea problems throughout the day and he could probably buy a couple off of her.

* * *

After spending three days cleaning up after everyone in this godforsaken dorm, the fourth day there was blessedly little to do that hadn't been done. Sweeping and dishes and garbage really.

It was good, it gave him time to think things over.

While he'd of course spent the rest of the previous night absolutely beside himself with rage as he walked around smelling exactly like that Peach Bitch did, stewing over just how gross the concept of erasing a person's memories was, eventually the rage had at least dimmed into something less vitriolic.

Oh he was still angry of course, but now he needed to focus.

He only had her first name and her school uniform. Well, that and the knowledge that her school must be in the same town as UA.

Thankfully he had in fact seen her uniform before. He didn't remember the name, but it was some hella prestigious General Ed Highschool. When he'd been looking up UA's average test scores he'd been surprised to see it tied for first place in the prefecture—he already had his heart set on UA of course, but he wanted to see just how much of a margin it had on other schools, so it was kinda notable that some dumb General Ed School was tied for first place with it.

A quick search confirmed his theory and put a name to the place: Gondor Academy.

He couldn't track demons to find her as Wedding Peach, and he couldn't find her by her name alone since he only had a first name to go off of, but he could find her highschool pretty easily. And how many first years named Momoko could there be in one school?

Then the question came of what to do once he did find her. Most Schools who were tied for a higher test score slot were bitter rivals, but even he wasn't so self involved to not notice that UA didn't seem to have any main rivalries with other schools—Even Shiketsu really, those Capped bastards were surprisingly jovial about the whole 'playing against UA' thing—But it was likely Gondor Academy had a bone to pick with UA, so if he wanted to find her _inside_ the school he'd need to do it in street clothes.

He wouldn't put it past some jackass third year to look at his UA uniform and give him the run around while he was trying to find that Peach Bitch. And if he was gonna get back to the dorms in time to do his homework, his make up work, _and_ get to bed at a proper time, he was gonna need to time this right.

And because of the time issue he couldn't just wait outside the gates of her school until he saw that familiar pink mop dart through the crowd, so he couldn't avoid going in after her at all. He could only hope she was one of those weirdos who joined clubs so he wouldn’t have missed her when he got there.

Which then brought up the issue of, if she was with friends what would he have to do to get her alone so he could chew her out without looking like a fucking lunatic.

He wasn't so blinded by his rage that he didn't know how important her secret must be. If it's so bad that she literally had to _put her smarmy fucking hands all over his mind and blockade memories_ to keep it then clearly that secrecy was all that was keeping her alive. Or something equally high stakes and stupid like that.

So he'd have to keep from drawing suspicion from whoever was with her. While he was in his street clothes. Talking to a girl who likely would look absolutely terrified.

Yeah, real smart Katsuki. Real fucking smart.

The realization of what to do came to him about fifteen minutes before classes let out and with said realization came an aggravated groan and a long string of moaned out curse words.

He was gonna have to fucking lie his ass off to get his vengeance, wasn't he?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once you get into the flow of it, Bakugou's surprisingly easy to write for


	3. Anytime you want

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Would you even wait all night? Or until your heart explodes?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The inevitable culmination

Honestly she wished she could mess around in the darkroom all day. She used to whine about how Yuri only made her the photographer for the newspaper because Papa was a professional photographer himself, but honestly, she'd grown to appreciate the art for what it was long ago.

And it ended up being a good call anyway, granted Yuri's editing looked super tedious and Hinagiku had to write literally _every_ article that wasn't submitted by a reader. 

Momoko's wrists were cramping just thinking about it. 

Thankfully, as the photographer she could just snap pictures all day, not sure which one would be the Money Shot until the pictures were uploaded. She'd already had a long day, a minor demon had possessed the Goalie on the Soccer team—Yosuke Fuuma apparently, he was cute, but kind of a jerk, and he was completely uninterested in girls in favor of Soccer so she just appreciated him for what he did for the team—and nearly killed a couple of upperclassmen during lunch. She wasn't really good with memory wipes beyond two people or so, but people generally couldn't remember being possessed anyway, so she just focused on the couple. 

All the same her energy reserves were low, and today was a day she was thankful for having the most low-energy job of the newspaper.

As it was she was sitting in the bleachers, camera in her lap, waiting both for the Volleyball players to begin their warm ups so she could take some pictures, and for Yuri and Hinagiku so she wouldn't be the only damn person beyond the coach and a few fangirls watching the practice.

Jama-P snored away in her breast pocket, the little Reformed Demon was more like a cat than Momoko ever expected, He could fall asleep in any size and any place. And Momoko was more than a little jealous at that. 

The Coach's whistle blew and Momoko sighed in relief when the Volleyball team began to line up and started doing drills. 

For a couple of minutes all thoughts of exhaustion faded from her mind as her thoughts were fully on the proper focusing, how far in did she want to zoom, and the shudder speed to get a particularly cool motion blur.

“Ahhh crap did we miss the beginning?” Hinagiku, of course. She giggled quietly when Hinagiku sauntered across the bleachers, looping an arm around Momoko's shoulders and leaning against her as she sighed dramatically.

“Nah, it's just drills right now.”

“Oh thank gosh, I was worried I'd have to miss this _riveting_ article about the fucking Volleyball team.” 

“Truly masterful sarcasm.” Momoko snapped another picture.

“Thank you, my love.” She snorted out a surprised laugh at Hinagiku's response. “'Tis reasons like these I shall one day convince thou to elope with me.” Hinagiku continued and Momoko actually laughed so hard her camera's lens moved a bit and sent the frame into a blur.

“Ack!” she yelped, jostling her shoulder for Hinagiku to lean away. “This is why I can't be your bride Hinagiku.” she stated flatly. It took a bit of fiddling to get everything back in focus before she continued. “That, and it'd ruin your chances with Yanagiba.” 

“Cripes, you're right.” Hinagiku hummed, leaning instead back onto her hands as her eyes strayed back toward the Gondor Volleyball team strutting their stuff. “Well I'd rather have a chance with the Captain of the Soccer team than sigh wistfully at Hero School sports festival videos.”

Momoko's brain stuttered for a moment. “ _What do ya-_ ”

“Oh, are we discussing Momoko's less-than-secret crush on one of the UA boys?” Yuri of course took then to practically teleport to the row of bleachers that the two of them were in. “It's the white-hair red-hair boy, right? The one who came in second?”

“Oh man, it's gotta be, she'd been sighing wistfully at clips of that final fight Non-fucking-stop.”

“ _I don't have a-_ ”

“It really is a shame Gondor Academy hates UA with such a passion, it seems as though our dearest Momoko will have to be a Juliet to a Romeo who knows not of the feud!”

“I'd hardly call that Gondor Academy's fault, Hero Schools are the ones who only care about other Hero Schools after all. Can't even be a normal fucking Romeo and Juliet situation because those dweebs are all up their own asses.”

“Truly heartbreaking.”

“ _I don't have a crush on a UA boy!_ ” She finally hissed out, her cheeks were burning. 

While it was true she had been revisiting some of the fights from the most recent Sports Festival on Viewtube, it most _certainly_ wasn't because she was pining after anyone! Momoko's shoulders stiffened as she stuffed her hands (and Camera) into her lap to avoid flinging them all over the place as she ranted. 

“Of course you don't Momoko.” Yuri patted her back sympathetically and Momoko cringed, waiting for the other shoe to drop. “Don't worry, You're no school traitor to us. We'll keep your shameful secret.”

“Yeah no worries! 'Sides just think of it like this, If we were at liberty to reveal our projects to anyone in The System, Hero boys would be pounding down your door for a chance to court the _Writer of Wedding Peach_.” Hinagiku winked.

“Indeed. Hero boys love stories about other heroes!” Yuri chimed in, the Code of Secrecy heavy on their tongues.

“You guys are such jerks!” Hinagiku and Yuri broke into laughter when Momoko whirled on them. “You _know_ I'm just watching those stupid videos for research! It's not _my_ fault Aphrodite would never let us take on a Collaborator in Hero School!” If anything her friend's grins got wider at her rebuttal.

“Ohhh right! I forgot you totally wrote in a Knight in Shining Armor rescue sequence!”

“Oh Momoko, if only the boy you based that character on could be allowed to read your work! Why I'm sure he'd fall for your charms in no time!”

“It's a good thing you had the least chance with any of the boys from the soccer team anyway, Huh Yuri?”

“Indeed, why if she has a chance to go after Hero boys then why would someone as _unimpressive_ as Yanagiba keep her eye?”

“I still like Yanagiba!” 

“But you can do _far_ better than him now that you've been keeping your eye on Hero boys!”

“Yeah! Just leave the cute boys on the Soccer team to us! Go traipse on over to UA and get yourself a man in the Hero Biz! See if you can siphon some of their funds into our damn art and music program!”

“ _You guys are such jerks!_ ” 

Hinagiku ruffled Momoko's hair—like one would their toddler cousin—and if Momoko was just a modicum less mature than she was she might have made a snap at Hinagiku's hand, a hollow threat of biting if there ever was one. 

Yuri eventually decided to call it quits on messing with her though and put her hands on Momoko's shoulders, the pressure meant to comfort, but unfortunately all Yuri did was upset the bruise on her back (and weren't _those_ a pain in the ass to deal with, why was she the only one whose fast healing only worked half the time?)

“Momoko sweetheart, you know we're only teasing!”

“I wasn't.”

Momoko actually laughed at that, and if Hinagiku's cheeky grin meant anything, that was the plan.

“Aha! She can still laugh! I have not soured our dear Momoko to us yet!” 

“How wonderful Hinagiku! Wedding Peach shall not abandon Lily and Daisy to the mercy of the Demon war this time next chapter!”

“Yeah yeah” Momoko shrugged her friend's off of her before lifting her camera again. “You know they already started the practice match right?”

Momoko's revenge was in Yuri's undignified yelp and Hinagiku's startled squawk. 

Thankfully Momoko only needed a couple of pictures from the fake match.

It helped her obsess over her friend's teasing remarks.

She hadn't thought she was that obvious in watching those Sports festival videos honestly, she didn't even do it that often, just every so often on her phone, and while it might have been a touch on the masochistic side it really was for research purposes.

No one had offered to help before. 

Though the time for such research had come and gone Momoko had wanted to re-access how Katsuki Bakugou fought, he couldn't fight head to head with a demon, but if he was able to augment his explosions with one of Momoko's attacks or found a way to combine the energy with Hinagiku's Daisy Blizzard, turning the storm of petals to a spiraling inferno, then he could easily work to combine their attacks to be more powerful. 

She didn't quite know how his style could work in combination with Yuri, but Yuri was the smartest of the three of them, and Bakugou seemed to have a good head on his shoulders—even when it was clouded with rage—so if given the opportunity she was sure the two of them could have worked something out.

It was all baseless speculation of course.

She'd ensured it herself that such a team up would never be possible, it was just something to wonder about when she wanted to torture herself about the whole secret identity thing.

* * *

Actual sports weren't as big in Japan as they were in the time before Quirks, but there was still an audience for them, just as there would always be an audience for classic film based photography, or an audience for the Opera. And Gondor Academy's bitterness toward Hero Schools meant that the performing arts and sports were just as big in their sliver of the world as most schools were oh-so long ago.

It was a view that was drilled into the three of them back in Junior high. The third years in junior high had taken the three of them aside after they'd decided to join the Anduin Gazette and told them as much. There will always be an audience. It may not be very big, but somewhere what you do will have someone cheering you on. News media had gotten more and more sensationalized and celebrity focused long before Quirks and it was only getting worse. School papers aren't exactly well read, but they are read. There will always be a readership, especially where they were in life as a general ed school.

So, it was the job of the school newspaper to inform all the tiny niche audiences made of spite and annoyance the goings on of eachother, to unite Gondor Academy and give the people the ability to support eachother in places their budget and administration could not.

But back to sports; everyone knew the stars of Gondor Academy were the Soccer team. Even those that didn't like sports or would rather watch heroes fight would show up to the games through a mix of school pride, a desire to keep the soccer team alive, and to ogle handsome boys doing things well.

And they played well indeed. 

Momoko knew a money shot when she saw one and made sure that whenever Yanagiba got near enough for a close zoom she took a picture. Half of them would come out too blurry and a fourth of that remaining half were likely out of focus, but that still left a fair few pictures for the fangirls to swoon over in next weeks issue. 

Yuri and Hinagiku cheered as the soccer team went through their practice runs. They were still quite a ways away from actual games—as soccer season wasn't quite here yet—but they were using today to break in their new kids and substitutes. 

Their newest goalie—that Yosuke Fuuma kid—was an absolute _beast_. Momoko wondered if he was planning on going pro out of school with how he attacked the ball when it got near his net. 

Yuri and Hinagiku were further into the crowd of fans. Momoko had to stand pressed up to the chain link fence—to get as little obstruction in her shot as possible—so she couldn't even jokingly complain about how she was doing all the work while the two of them cheered and squealed with the rest of the girls. 

Jama-p was left at home today—he and Momoko had gotten into a 'who can eat the most 88 ¥ store doughnut boxes' and he was quite sick after his defeat—so Momoko was stuck with naught but her musings and an earplug in one ear (Cheering wasn't as fun when you weren't allowed to do it and had to actually pay attention) as she watched the ever handsome team of young men, looking for a good shot from her angle.

“Momoko-chan!” A rough voice interrupted her thoughts. 

A voice both unfamiliar and _frighteningly_ familiar, chipper and cheerful in a way that made it sound alien—and she didn't think anyone called her 'chan' anymore—when voice was matched to face, then matched to name, and finally matched to context, Momoko's heart jumped into her throat.

An ice cold dread laced her gut and stiffened her muscles. Crap. Crap Crap Craaaappp.

What was _he_ doing here‽

She erased his memories, she personally brought him home, summer came and went without incident on her end—and wasn't he the one who got kidnapped by those League of Villains guys? 

Oh crap that was why the spell faded wasn't it? Trauma unblocks memories like nothing else, oh man Aphrodite was gonna be so _pissed_.

Before she could pull herself together enough to respond, or even turn to face him, she felt Katsuki Bakugou sling his arm around her shoulder, and then she was pulled into the fakest one-armed hug she'd ever felt.

“Man, it has been _so_ long!” 

When she was finally forced to look at him, Momoko's immediate thought was that she hadn't seen someone look so pissed with a smile before.

“I've missed you! How have you _been_?” he looked more like he was bearing his teeth like a wolf than actually grinning at her. His eyes were way too wide, she could see the edges of his gums around his teeth, for the briefest of moments Momoko actually feared for her well being.

“Are you busy right now? We really should catch up!”

She turned her head to glance back into the bleachers and—thank god—Yuri and Hinagiku had indeed caught sight of this.

She widened her eyes and shot her friends the best 'help me' face she could muster.

“Actually, I really need to take photos for the soccer team... for the school newspaper.”

“Well I'm sure you've already gotten some... _lovely_ shots already.” In that instant Momoko feared more for the well being of her camera than the well being of herself. 

He was so angry with her, she had no idea how this could play out. He seemed to be the aggressive kind, but he was also the yelling kind, so Momoko had no idea if she should let it play out or not. He probably wouldn't chance blowing off his quirk; too much attention, especially if he was aware enough of the ax Gondor Academy had to grind with UA to come here in his street clothes. But she didn't know how much combat training he was at yet, would she be able to get away with her experiences in demon fighting or would he wipe the floor with her through his righteous fury alone?

“W...Well thank you, but I gotta stick around to be sure I don't miss anything!”

“Oh come on, _Momoko-chan_ can't you duck out for just a little bit to catch up with an _old Friend?_ ”

And then—thank Aphrodite for the powers of Philos—the Cavalry had come.

“Oh my _Gosh!_ Bakugou it's been way too long!” Hinagiku's voice carried over the din of the cheering crowd and Bakugou's terrifying angry-smile dropped to pure aggravated bafflement when Hinagiku saddled up to his unoccupied side and threw her arm around _his_ shoulders. 

And so loudly stating his name also had the unintended yet wholly welcome bonus of watching a few people in the bleachers turn their heads and become witnesses.

“Indeed! After you got into _Hero School_ we'd thought you'd forgotten about us!” That got a few more heads turned, this time in reflexive disgust at someone in UA appearing at Gondor Academy. Momoko felt Yuri place her hand on Momoko's upper arm and Momoko almost wanted to cry.

She loved her friends so much.

You have to be a decent liar to be a Love Angel it seemed, or perhaps Bakugou was taken aback at the fact that her friends were so quick to improvise against his lies, but she had the best seat in the house to watch his face contort into sheer shock and confusion. 

He didn't let up on his grip of Momoko, but he also didn't resist as Hinagiku began to lead their little group away from the bleachers.

“Come on, buddy! Us four _friends whom have known each other since preschool_ should have a private place to catch up!”

The first rule of improv was to never contradict your partner, especially not when you're in front of a crowd.

Hinagiku and Yuri kept up the innocent chatter all the way back into the school building, should any passers by or eavesdroppers come into contact with them. 

It was then that Katsuki Bakugou began to riot. Before Hinagiku could even respond he'd ducked out of her grip and grabbed Momoko by the lapels of her uniform. 

Momoko's camera began to bounce around at the sudden movement, at one point bashing against her ribs and making her fear bruising, before one of her existing bruises was likely made worse as he slammed her back against the wall.

“ _Who the fuck do you think you are‽_ ” He—for lack of a better word—roared at her. The lies from earlier and no doubt the frustration from regaining his memories wound so tight it snapped right in her face.

“I.. uh...” She'd never ran into this before! Nobody had ever _regained_ their memories! Even when they were caught by demons more than once! She didn't have any practiced words or any sort of way to calm the fury that radiated off of Bakugou in waves. They hadn't quite become waves of hatred, and for that she was thankful, as the last thing any of them needed was to be weakened by fighting off a human's hatred wave before likely being found by Pluie and getting roped into a proper fight. It was still terrifying of course, but less dire than it could have been.

And also, just because she was the target didn't mean that Yuri and Hinagiku let her fight alone. While her eyes had been on Bakugou this whole time she'd seen Yuri in her peripheral checking the nearby classrooms for clubs and tutors, and now that he was well and truly focused on Momoko again Hinagiku began to sneak up on him.

Wait, that wasn't good. She couldn't let that happen. She believed in Hinagiku, but she also believed in the fact that nobody who was going to Hero School didn't have a particularly well developed fighting style.

“I'm sorry!” May as well give it a shot. “I really am!” She closed her eyes, as to not see the skeptical scowl she knew was creaking onto his face. What reason would he have to believe her after all? She'd lied to him already and he was already pissed. “I don't like having to do that but If I hadn't you'd have put yourself in mortal danger!”

“ _You put your smarmy mitts in my brain and mess with my memories after I offered to_ help you _and you think a single fucking 'sorry' will work‽_ ” There it was. “ _Don't play that fucking Tragic Heroine Shtick on me!_ ”

“Excuse me!” Yuri finally shouted, her voice like a bell, yet soundly ignored until Hinagiku supplemented it with a quick “Hey Sparky!” Which thankfully was just insulting enough to garner Bakugou's attention.

“ _What the fuck kinda name is that Greenie‽_ ”

“I understand you're upset Bakugou-san, and while you are perfectly justified in having your say, we all may want to come to an area with a less likely chance of witnesses before we get too deep into the details.”

Momoko sighed, hoping that at the very least she'd be released and be able to.. you know... Move. That slam against the wall had agitated a couple of her bruises and though she hadn't felt it at the time due to her own shock she was starting to feel the lingering twinges of pain in the space between her shoulderblades.

Bakugou paused for a moment, looking around the two of them; and as though queued by being made aware of them, a few doors with clubs within began to slide open, curious faces poking out.

And what a sight they must have made. The School Newspaper and some boy in street clothes holding the Photographer by her lapels and pressing her against the wall would certainly look odd to most. Momoko was honestly surprised none of the more gallant male students had jumped at the chance to fight some stranger in defense of a female classmate, surprised, but relived. 

Slowly, his grip loosened, until Momoko was free and He pivoted on his heel to march into the classroom Yuri had offered, roughly bumping his shoulder against hers as he went in. Yuri yelped in surprise and Hinagiku scoffed.

Momoko herself rolled her shoulders a couple of times, the stretch and pull of the motion making the newly exasperated bruises up her back twinge. She mumbled a small 'ow' to herself as the three of them entered the room. Bakugou was leaning against the far wall, glaring in their general direction and Momoko was sure, just waiting for a better opportunity to properly yell at them all some more.

Carefully, Momoko placed her camera on the desk nearest the door, Yuri copying the motion with her feild notes, while Hinagiku closed the door and propped a chair against it. 

At Momoko's raised brow Hinagiku shrugged. “Don't want anyone trying to get in if we're Talking Shop.” Which was fair, if... a little disconcerting.

“Well, now that we're in a far more private area to speak more freely about such things...” Yuri started, her eyes only skirting across Bakugou before she turned her attention to Momoko herself. “Momoko, what on Earth is going on?”

Hinagiku was quick to follow Yuri's lead. “Yeah seriously, isn't the Bridal Flash supposed to make sure this kinda stuff _doesn't happen_?”

You know getting double teamed by her friends wasn't how she expected this to go, but no one could ever say Momoko Hanasaki couldn't keep her head in a crisis.

“It's supposed to! That's what Limone _and_ Aphrodite told me!”

“Well clearly something must have been done incorrectly to lead to this then!” 

“Seriously, if some Punk-Ass Hero kid can get his memories back in like a couple of months, what the hell does that mean for our classmates? Like half the student body has been possessed at some point by now!”

“ _Who're you calling_ 'Some Punk-Ass Hero Kid' _Greenie_ ‽” 

“We'll get to you, Sparky,”

“ _My name's not fucking Sparky!_ ”

“And Mine's not Greenie so looks like we're both gonna be annoyed for a bit here.”

“H-Hey! Hold on! Nothing happened until after summer right? Well this happened before finals! So unless he only _now_ decided to confront us after stewing it over for months then he got his memories back on his own! It's not like the spell is losing its touch!”

“All the same Momoko, how can we possibly trust it now that someone has regained their memories on their own? Our secrecy is the only thing that keeps civilians alive! Imagine what could have happened if he'd told the police about us, or yet worse! One of his Hero Teachers!”

“But he didn't! He came to us on his own!”

“News Flash Momoko, he _could have_ for all we know right now he could have told them before he came over here!”

“ _STOP TALKING ABOUT ME LIKE I'M NOT FUCKING HERE_ ”

“Bakugou-san, I'm sorry, but you're going to need to be patient, this is an internal issue among our kind more than it is about you.”

“ _What the FUCK is that supposed to mean‽_ ”

“If he told someone in authority they'd have stopped him from coming here and you know it!”

“Cripes, Momoko we're fifteen I don't want to be the indirect cause of death for a pro hero before I'm even out of fucking highschool!” 

Okay that tore it.

“You guys _Remember_ that I was the first Love Angel right‽ I've erased _Your_ memories before!” Well that gave her the floor at least. 

Yuri and Hinagiku glanced between the two of them and Momoko took the opportunity to continue, calmer, quieter. She didn't like angry yelling anyway, it felt gross.

“I know you're not mad at _me_ , but acting like I'm an idiot who doesn't know the importance of our mission is making _me_ mad.” Just like dad taught her. Identify, understand. Embrace your emotions but don't let them hurt others. “Yuri, do you remember when I first became Wedding Peach? Hinagiku got possessed by Jama-P. You saw the whole thing.”

Yuri's brow furrowed, she opened her mouth, probably about to insist that that never happened, that Momoko must have been alone with Hinagiku when it had happened, but her mouth shut with an audible 'click' and a look of realization passed over her face.

“Wait... Seriously?” Hinagiku butted in. “We're... We're fucking _Angels_ and we don't get them back‽”

“On my second solo mission, two days after the possession, your parents got demon spores put in their flowers Hinagiku, if they remembered that day it could have ruined their marriage.” Hinagiku went a little pale, but all the same her point was made.

“I don't know why he regained his memories, but it's not the magic's fault. And it's not because I haven't been taking our job seriously.” 

She slipped between her friends and approached Bakugou finally. He'd been letting them talk, but clearly, he wasn't happy about it. He snarled at Momoko as she got near, and she made sure to still have a reasonable distance between the two of them. 

And then she bowed as low as she could without tipping herself over.

“I know you likely don't want to hear it Bakugou-san, but I am truly and deeply sorry. I cannot fully regret my actions, as they have been instrumental in protecting scores of innocent lives before and after yours, but I totally regret lying to you about it. You deserved to be treated with more respect.”

That sounded official, right? Momoko stayed in her position, wincing lightly when she saw him shift to stand upright.

“God stop bowing, you look ridiculous.” She darted upright at his gruff words. He was still glaring, but somehow, someway, it looked less vitriolic than before.

“You're right, I didn't wanna hear it. Nothing you can say will change what you fucking did you Magical Girl Bitch.” 

She pinched her lips into a thin line, eyes darting to the ground. She expected it, but still, ouch.

“Don't give me that damn kicked puppy face, I'm not done talking.”

“Huh?”

“You owe me for the shit you pulled; you owe me for erasing my mind, and you owe me for lying to me about it so I couldn't put up a proper fight.” He held a finger in front of her face, guiding her to look back at him.

“One, you never fucking do that again. My brain is off limits to your Magic from this point forward, understand?”

Yuri and Hinagiku answered for her.

“Excuse me, I understand that your primary issue lies with Momoko and not either of us, but she's not the only Love Angel here.”

“Yeah, if you don't want us messing with your memories, you're gonna need to keep the secret too.”

“We can possibly convince Aphrodite to trust us on this matter, but if word got out...”

“Can you two harpies stop squawking for a goddamn minute I wasn't talking to you.”

Momoko's back straightened like a chill ran down it, her shoulders tensed and her face pinched up. Ohhh no he just did not. Hinagiku's face turned a particularly interesting shade of scarlet, and Yuri puffed up her chest in affront, but Momoko beat the both of them to the punch.

Literally.

Sure, her punch was weak on purpose, and even to a far less battle trained person it wouldn't have actually hurt, especially granted she hit his shoulder instead of anywhere that could actually do damage, but she did it. She was proving a point anyway, it didn't need to be hard.

“Don't call my friends harpies!” 

Maybe it was just her quirk acting up, but she could practically _feel_ his amusement despite the scowl he was affixing her with. 

“Was that your idea of a punch?” That wasn't even a scary smirk he shot her then. Maybe Momoko's outrage had turned off her fear response, but she was thinking it was more along the line that he was just amused in the end of it. “I barely felt it, Christ if you're _that_ wimpy how the hell have you guys been beating off demons at all?”

“I get stronger when I'm transformed—that's not the point! Yuri and Hinagiku are better at this stuff than I am but that doesn't make them harpies!”

At least he decided then to drop it, no apology or anything, but he did turn back to Yuri and Hinagiku. The latter of whom was holding back her own laughter from Momoko's attempt at defending their honor. (Momoko felt her cheeks heat up at the fact that even her friends saw it more amusing than anything else.)

“Could people really die if word gets out?”

Yuri nodded solemnly

“I'm afraid so, only magic can defeat magic, and I doubt pro heroes will readily allow a group of children hold the front of a war that can decide the fate of Love itself. At least not with one of them there too.”

“And a human in a war between demons and angels is a corpse waiting to drop, no matter how powerful their quirk.” Hinagiku finished.

Bakugou's eyes flickered back to Momoko

“You said that too, before.”

Momoko shrugged. 

“It's kinda something that sticks in your brain when a literal goddess says it to you.”

Bakugou huffed, folding his arms tightly again “Well sure, whatever, I'm not exactly a narc anyway.”

“I'll keep your damn secret if it keeps your fucking magic out of my brain, but don't expect me to do any helping or anything.” He paused for a moment before looking back at the three of them, outrage evident “ _That doesn't even fucking count as something you assholes owe me anymore! You put your own fucking conditions on it! You goddamn extras still owe me!_ ”

Now _that_ was amusing. Momoko was sure giggling at his irritation must have been the worst thing to do, but like, how could she _not_?

“ _Stop fucking laughing Peach Bitch!_ ” And that got Hinagiku going, and when the both of them were laughing at something it was only a matter of time before Yuri joined them.

“You're all so goddamn warped what the _fuck_ are you laughing at‽” 

Momoko was just barely able to eek out a response. 

“This is so surreal.” She paused to take a deep breath. “I'm sorry, but if you knew the shit we deal with on the daily you'd be laughing too.” His scowl deepened.

“Well I would if you'd been less of a lying bitch.” 

“Never gonna let it die are you?”

“Not until I never have to see your stupid white bows again.”Her lips pinched to the side at that, not necessarily pouting, but not...Not pouting.

“Well then, what are your new terms? So we can get that started as quickly as we can.”

“Well I don't fucking know anymore because my first condition doesn't count anymore and my second condition is a moot point now.” He gestured vaguely in their direction as he spoke, an open invitation for a solution to this problem.

“Well fuck Sparky,” Hinagiku gestured back at him. “if you can't think of anything then I guess the only thing to do is call us square and—”

“Don't even try it, Greenie.”

“She is right though Bakugou-san, you can't just insist we owe you and then not come up with a proper solution.”

“Man, you can fuck right off Froufrou,” Yuri gasped in affront, and honestly it wasn't as bad as 'harpy' so Momoko was still doing the worst in the 'insulting nicknames' category “that's not how owing works and you fucking know it.”

And then the idea occurred to her.

“Bakugou, tell me your phone number!” She reached into her skirt pocket and pulled her own phone from its prison, a small army of charms bobbling from the earphone jack. “So we can keep tabs on you as a Secret Keeper, and you can cash in your two favors later!” She quickly opened up a 'new contact' screen and then waited patiently for his input.

“I mean,” She continued “I'm the one who wronged you, so Yuri and Hinagiku should be left out of this, it's only right.” 

She smiled up at him and she could feel the aggravation come off of him in waves when he realized that she was indeed offering the simplest solution.

She named his contact 'Bakubaku' and since he likely would never see her phone he would never have to know.

After he conceded defeat and offered up his number, Momoko sent him a quick 'Hi' with a peach emoji to ensure he got her number as well. 

“Okie dokie. I guess we're all set up now! Hinagiku please release us from this classroom of unneeded confrontations.” 

“Sure, sure, 'Hinagiku move the chairs while I flirt with a boy from Hero School'. God you've got such a one-track mind.” 

“Hinagiku!” Her face flustered and she could hear Bakugou's Quirk going off in sheer startlement at the implication.

And of course Yuri had to jump in as well “Ahh, a tale as old as time! ” Momoko covered her eyes with a hand, cheeks scarlet.

“Can you guys _not_?”

“Well I see nothing wrong with it, after all he's a friend now, and we all mock each other about our crushes.”

“Yeah! He's gonna have to deal!”

“ _I'm not your fucking friend! Why the hell would I want to be a friend of three creepy magical bitches‽_ ”

“'Deal' like how you deal with having a crush on Takuro Hinagiku?” And there it was. Hinagiku's face went red and she dropped the chair she was carrying away from the door. 

“Wh...What are ya _Sayin‽_ I'd never have a thing for that wimpy nerd! We just hung out when we were kids because I was always rarin' to fight bullies!” She laughed way too loudly to be sincere. “Wow Momoko way to deflect!”

“Perhaps it is a deflection Hinagiku, however it did just remind me that we do need to interview Takuro as he has remained the unbeated number one in tests in our grade!”

“ _Yuri!_ ” 

Momoko sighed in relief as her friends began to argue with each other. These past ….god was it even an hour that this had all happened? It felt like such a whirlwind it couldn't have been less than at least a couple of hours, but according to her phone it hadn't even been thirty minutes. 

And without another word to any of them Bakugou stalked off, slamming the door open the second it was free from the chair blockade.

Momoko took a deep, measured breath.

And then her text alert went off.

**[16:10] Bakubaku:** Your friends are a goddamn headache

* * *

**[20:39] Momoko:** u think'a anything good? (ﾉ･o･)ﾉﾟ*｡.+:｡ﾟ☆ﾟ

**[20:40] Bakubaku:** Don't rush me  
**[20:40] Bakubaku:** Christ  
**[20:42] Bakubaku:** Also don't use those stupid motocons they look ridiculous

**[20:43] Momoko:** what motocons?  
**[20:43] Momoko:** these?

**[20:43] Bakubaku:** I'm gonna block your number bitch

**[20:44] Momoko:** ＼(^ω^＼) ﾟ*｡(･∀･)ﾟ*｡ (*ﾟ∀ﾟ*) (≧∇≦)b _(:3」∠)_ (●♡∀♡) (￣▽￣)ノ （⌒▽⌒） (〜￣△￣)〜 ˶⚈Ɛ⚈˵ (♥ω♥*) ༼つಠ益ಠ༽つ ─=≡ΣO)) （＊＾ω＾）♪ (∩`ω´)⊃)) (╯°Д°)╯ ┻━┻

**[20:44] Bakubaku:** FUCKING KNOCK IT OFF  
**[20:44] Bakubaku:** ILL KILL YOU

**[20:44] Momoko:** u wont tho  
**[20:45] Momoko:** if u kill me then u gotta talk ta yuri n hinagiku when u wanna cash ur demands

**[20:46] Bakubaku:** DEMAND 1: STOP USING FUCKING MOTOCONS WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING ME

**[20:46] Momoko:** do u REALLY wanna use 1 of ur demands on that? u only got 2 to use till were square

**[20:47] Bakubaku:** What the fuck else can you offer me beyond my fucking sanity?

**[20:47] Momoko:** thats up to u  
**[20:47] Momoko:** were angels and were newspaper people  
**[20:47] Momoko:** are motocons really that bad when dealin w/ em means you get great rep. in at least oNE newspaer?  
**[20:48] Momoko:** *newspaper

**[20:48] Bakubaku:** That'd be one demand genius

**[20:48] Momoko:** how do u know u wont need to keep 1 in ur pocket 4 l8r?  
**[20:49] Momoko:** what if somethin happens n u need a love angel?  
**[20:49] Momoko:** or a really good photographer?  
**[20:49] Momoko:** or if u need that article later insteada now?

**[20:49] Bakubaku:**....  
**[20:52] Bakubaku:** Fucking hell  
**[20:52] Bakubaku:** FINE WHATEVER

**[20:53] Momoko:** (ᗒᗨᗕ) (◕ω◕✿) (￣▽￣)V ⊂（♡⌂♡）⊃ (*≧▽≦)

**[20:55] Bakubaku:** Don't push it

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Honestly Yuri and Hinagiku are my favorite characters to write for in this whole fic


	4. I know things will get better

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I had a feeling that I belonged

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's a little shorter, but i really liked the concept of early communication being entirely through text.
> 
> Also i'm really excited that i finished a chapter on international fic day

It really fucking sucked being one of two fucking people in the whole class that flunked the provisional.

Thankfully the—remedial? Ugh he wanted to barf just at the thought—classes he, Icyhot and the others that flunked had to take weren't quite as gruesome as he'd expected them to be. It was mostly just Theoretical Heroics stuff with worksheets dedicated more exclusively to the stuff they were struggling with, so they could be self aware or something when they did retakes—which was tedious as all hell and ridiculously insulting, sure. But it was...whatever.

No, what really sucked was watching Kirishima head off with Froggy, Uraraka, and Deku to their respective Agencies and he was stuck sulking back at the dorms. And while he could appreciate his friends for their presence; Sero, Ashido, and Kaminari were just... a lot to handle without his—and he could admit it to himself when in his own thoughts—best friend as a buffer.

He wasn't someone to stare at his phone for more time than normal, but when his other friends were all being too damn _noisy_ , he wasn't doing extra work, it was the only shield between him and the chaos he could get.

**[16:00] Peach Bitch:** so whats hero school LIKE n e way? (~o3o)~

**[16:00] Katsuki:** Better than your school

**[16:01] Peach Bitch:** !!!!!  >:0  
 **[16:01] Peach Bitch:** How dare you! (╯‵□′)╯︵┴─┴

**[16:02] Katsuki:** Also stop fucking texting me with inane shit  
 **[16:02] Katsuki:** We're not fucking friends

“Whatcha' lookin at Bakugou?” Kaminari leaned into his field of vision and before he could catch even a glimpse of his phone, Katsuki locked the screen.

“Nothing for you to care about, Pikachu.” Kaminari narrowed his eyes at him, lips pressed into something Katsuki thought might have been a pout, before he leaned in to make a swipe for his phone.

“Dude if you're looking at porn you can just say so! We're all friends here!” Katsuki responded to THAT particular idea by grabbing the dumbass by the back of his neck and shoving his face into the couch.

“He's probably just looking at cutsey comics or something and not wanting us to find out about his terrible secret!” Ashido chirped from her own spot on a different couch, and Katsuki grit his teeth. Ashido however had better reaction time than Kaminari and easily dodged the TV remote he'd flung at her head.

“ _You can fuck right off Raccoon eyes!_ ”

“Maybe it's a _giiiirrrrlllll_ ” Kaminari spoke up, voice still muffled by his mouth full of couch cushion.

“Bakugou's had a secret girlfriend this whole time?” Sero chimed in walking in with a bowl of popcorn in hand. They were supposed to be watching the original Akira soon, but if the rate he was going at that bowl meant anything they wouldn't have anything come the halfway mark. “Must be easy to put up with if she doesn't have to actually see you!”

Well, at least grabbing Kaminari by the back of his shirt and hurling him into Sero was enough to shut the both of them up. Sero was able to keep the popcorn bowl upright, but he and Kaminari both flopped onto the nearby loveseat.

“I'm just ensuring that I don't have to look at any of your dumb fucking faces before the damn movie.”

“Ashiiidooooo, Bakugou's being mean!” Katsuki knew Kaminari's whining was purposefully as annoying as possible, but it still grated on his ears. He looked back down at his messages.

**[16:03] Peach Bitch:** then y do u keep answerin?  
 **[16:03] Peach Bitch:** u probbly shouldnt block me but u dont have 2 answer(˶◕‿◕˶✿)

Ashido sighed dramatically “Where's Kirishima when you need him!”

“He's off being better than the rest of you.”

**[16:09] Katsuki:** And let my notifications get clogged with your bullshit?  
 **[16:10] Katsuki:** I'd rather just tell you to fuck off

“Big talk from the guy who failed the provisionals.”

He didn't know why his friends loved baiting him when Kirishima wasn't around to reign him in, but he at least had enough forethought to put his phone down before he pounced on Ashido.

If there was one pro to hanging out with these idiots it was that no one cowered. It was weird at first, but he liked it now.

Ashido shrieked in delight and met him halfway, He was able to overpower her pretty quickly, but she actually fended him off from fully forcing her into a headlock for a considerable amount of time.

Sero laughed from his spot on the couch and cheered for Ashido to beat him—everyone liked an underdog apparently—and for a bit it didn't even matter that his friends were loud as all hell.

“You ever heard of the Nagasaki Sidebar?”

“You made that up!” he hissed back at Ashido's cocky smirk.

“Well.....” She kicked him in the side, and _Damn_ if Ashido didn't have a good kick. It actually took him aback enough for her to slide out from under him, the smallest ripping sound coming from the back of her tank top. “I certainly did!”

What, did she think it would be that easy?

He just barely needed to pivot—still on his knees, but one leg extended out to keep his balance—to grab hold of Ashido's ankle and pull her back in.

He had never really been able to roughhouse with people. Before highschool when he hit no one dared to hit back. And for a long time he'd reveled in that idea, being respected and feared. No one hit back and actually meant it, the closest there ever came was Deku and he never actually tried to _really_ fight him until he inherited All Might's Quirk. It was all just big talk and teary eyes before that.

As Ashido nearly turned the tables on him and he'd narrowly avoided being put in a headlock, he actually had a moment where he wondered why he ever thought that was better than being around people who didn't fear him.

Kaminari was taking a video with his phone it looked like, so Katsuki took a mental note to make _him_ the next target of his ire. Even as he was able to get Ashido into an arm lock.

“Say it.”

“Never!”

He heard the bowl overturn from Sero's grip, slipping from whatever the fuck he was horsing around with Kaminari about, and from his peripheral he saw what was left of the popcorn scatter across the floor.

Damn bastard better clean that up himself, Katsuki wasn't on cleaning duties anymore so he's not gonna.

“ _Say it._ ”

“ _You'll have to kill me first!_ ”

“ _That can be arranged!_ ” He pulled Ashido's arm a little harder and she made a noise that he wasn't quite sure was fully a laugh anymore.

“Uncle! Uncle!” She finally tapped the ground with her free hand. And only then did Katsuki relent. Releasing her arm and rolling out of position.

“Took you long enough.” He huffed.

“I woulda' lasted longer if I wasn't laughing so hard.” she responded simply. Ashido reached behind herself to feel just how big the hole in the back of her shirt was, before sighing. “Don't start the movie without me. I gotta go change.”

“Oh you can do that right here if you wanna be sure you won't miss anything!” Kaminari looked up from his recording to address Ashido; which she—reasonably—responded to by flipping him off before vanishing down the hallway.

“Voyeurism fucking denied.” Sero said with a small snicker. Kakstuki took a moment to stand back up before returning to his spot on the couch.

Only to notice his phone had vanished from the cushion he'd set it on.

“Where the fuck is my—“

**[16:11] Peach Bitch:** omg thats the nicest thing u ever said to me (TT﹏TT)  
 **[16:11] Peach Bitch:** theangel magic is working ღゝwl)ノ♡

**[16:11] Katsuki:** omg HELLO WHO IS THIS? I DON'T RECOGNIZE THAT NICKNAME???Σ(ﾟДﾟ)Σ(ﾟДﾟ)Σ(ﾟДﾟ)  
 **[16:11] Katsuki:** Hey there baby~ You're super cute and i'm a total wiener forinsulting you~~♡´･ᴗ･`♡

**[16:12] Peach Bitch:** wat ε_ε;  
 **[16:12] Peach Bitch:** holy carp are you ona his friends???(◕ω◕✿)

**[16:13] Katsuki:** oh no my lovely peach girl (ﾟωﾟ)  
 **[16:13] Katsuki:** i can assure you i am in fact 100% corn-fed bakugou katsuki  
 **[16:13] Katsuki:** no additives of any kind(˶◕‿◕˶✿)

**[16:13] Peach Bitch:** omg i'm glad then XD

**[16:14] Katsuki:** even if i WASN'T bakugou id have more sense than to leave my phone unlocked before i started wrestling with my friends  
 **[16:14] Katsuki:** only a total wiener would do that in front of my devilishly handsome and clever friend Kaminari Denki!(￣ε￣〃)ｂ

**[16:15] Peach Bitch:** omg（ >▽<）

**[16:15] Katsuki:** i mean if anyone would be clever and cool enough to impersonate me it would be that electric huibedls/ajklghjtfuvjk555

**[16:15] Peach Bitch:** awwww, bye kaminari-san! It was fun messaging you! (*＾▽＾)／

“In my defense I thought you were looking at porn and I was curious.”

“Pikachu.”

“Really, it's not even my fault, you know what I'm like, you should have locked your phone before you started roughhousing with Ashido.”

“You have five seconds.”

“Sero can you be a bro and dictate my will?”

**[16:20] Katsuki:** FUCK  
 **[16:20] Katsuki:** THAT WASN'T FUCKING ME  
 **[16:20] Katsuki:** IM GONNA FUCKING KILL THAT BASTARD

**[16:21] Peach Bitch:** awwww don't do that! |ω・｀)ノ it was fun chatting w/1 of ur friends!

**[16:21] Katsuki:** He stole my fucking phone and messaged a stranger with it while pretending to be me

**[16:22] Peach Bitch:** ok fair but it was p. obviously not u?  
 **[16:22] Peach Bitch:** and since i knew it wasnt you its not like its lessened my opinion  
 **[16:22] Peach Bitch:** ur friends seem fun! ＾ω＾like lily and daisy fr me!

**[16:22] Katsuki:**...

**[16:23] Peach Bitch:** i mean, yuri n hinagiku have stolen my phone to mess with my pictures a lot, and one time they tried to wingman me with half the drama cub at once  
 **[16:23] Peach Bitch:** friends arent friends unless you all drag eachother daily and prank eachother weekly  
 **[16:23] Peach Bitch:** i think its a law

**[16:25] Katsuki:** Uh gross  
 **[16:25] Katsuki:** How dare you compare my friends to that fucking circus you call a social group

**[16:26] Peach Bitch:** !!!!!!!!!!!  >:0

* * *

He knew why he didn't pass the provisionals. Or rather, he was pretty sure why he didn't pass. He was 'too hard' or 'too cruel' or whatever, and despite his ability to look over people's injuries and make priority calls in line with them, his attitude was what did him in.

Or at least, that's what his test results had told him when he'd gotten his form back at the beginning of the stupid remedial classes. He wasn't sure of he agreed with the necessity of one's attitude in relation to heroics; after all, if he was still putting away villains and keeping people from getting killed why would it matter if he wasn't personable? But whether he agreed with it or not that was what the test had decided he needed to be better in so that was what his specific remedial lessons were focused on.

It was stupid, but at least it was a consistent kind of stupid. He just had to answer things in ways the more annoying people in his class would, and he was generally done with the extra homework in no more than ten minutes.

Which made it extra annoying when the fifteen minute mark had passed, his math book was lying right beside him—silently begging to be opened so he could take his mind off of this stupid worksheet—and he just couldn't phrase this damn essay question without sounding like—according to Ashido when she'd been at the same table working on the literature essay they were supposed to already have done—a total fucking sociopath.

He didn't ask for help.

He never asked for help. He didn't need it.

But if he didn't have a fresh pair of eyes on this fucking question it might actually drive him insane.

**[19:34] Katsuki:** [IMAGE SENT]  
 **[19:34] Katsuki:** Demand 1: my useless fucking classmates keep telling me my answers make me sound like a sociopath  
 **[19:34] Katsuki:** when you're not a lying backstabbing love angel or whatever you're a civilian so tell me what a civilian would wanna hear

**[19:35] Peach Bitch:** omgggggggg  
 **[19:35] Peach Bitch:** okay so here's the thing  
 **[19:36] Peach Bitch:** when someone's panicking, but you have to be stuck with them for a long time the best thing to do is take their mind off of the present stress.  
 **[19:36] Peach Bitch:** that's what I do when a kid i'm watching gets antsy bc they miss their mama or smth  
 **[19:37] Peach Bitch:** You don't have to like, smalltalk or anything, but just giving someone something else to think about helps a lot  
 **[19:38] Peach Bitch:** Ask about their interests, tell them about yours beyond hero work, tell them that cool fact about black holes you learned when you were combing through academic papers about space or whatever. Let their brain have a break from all the stress for a bit.

A distraction.

That was... such a simple solution it was almost hilarious.

**[19:40] Katsuki:** you gotta be fucking kidding me

**[19:40] Peach Bitch:** wut? o3o

**[19:40] Katsuki:** that's too fucking simple are you trying to tell me i've been stuck on this damn problem for actual minutes and couldn't come up with anything that didn't make me sound like a psycho and 'distract them' was the fucking answer  
 **[19:41] Katsuki:** you gotta be FUCKING KIDDING ME

**[19:42] Peach Bitch:** (*´∀｀）(*´∀｀）(*´∀｀）(*´∀｀）  
 **[19:42] Peach Bitch:** waste of a demand  
 **[19:43] Peach Bitch:** rest in fucking pieces

He totally didn't throw his phone across the room like a toddler, he had higher standards than that. It was close, but his standards won out.

**[19:45] Katsuki:** Fuck off, halfway from getting to be able to delete your damn number from my phone.

**[19:46] Peach Bitch:** (TT Д TT)  
 **[19:46] Peach Bitch:** nuuuuuu say it aint so  
 **[19:47] Peach Bitch:** lol jk  
 **[19:47] Peach Bitch:** I'll enjoy not being sworn at every other text.

Those were fighting words.

But he was done with this damn worksheet now that he had a better answer and he had an entire math assignment he could blaze through now. So he opted instead to focus on something he was actually good with.

**[19:50] Katsuki:** Fuck you i'm a goddamn delight

* * *

**[20:58] Katsuki:** Thanks btw (unsent)

* * *

Look, if anyone took his studies as a hero seriously, it was Katsuki. You didn't get to be in the top three among test scores if you weren't fucking serious about your damn studies.

He was man enough to be willing to properly acknowledge that he'd messed up regarding the damn Provisionals, and he was man enough to keep going to the damn remedial lessons, even with Icyhot being the only companion he had in them.

But holy crap was he _not_ here for these goddamn 'group projects' since he and Todoroki had problems 'playing well with others' or some bullshit.

He'd do his half of the work with minimal complaining, and he and Icyhot would probably have to actually talk to eachother to get either side of their work done harmoniously. (ugh)

Todoroki wasn't an idiot or anything, but he was so mind-numbingly _slow_ when he was writing things down.

Despite probably knowing better Katsuki found himself on his phone, looking for some relatively unobtrusive app game to fiddle with while he waited for Iceberg Icyhot to finish his damn half of the essay so they could piece it all together into one whole thing and fight like children over how to phrase the conclusion. You know, like any normal pair of teenagers on a school assignment together.

But none of the damn games he was looking through were anything relatively close to decent. It was all puzzle solvers, bubble shooters, and those stupid bejeweled clones.

His stupid mobile carrier thrust onto him some dumb promotion, which he of course was quick to get rid of.

But it did give him an idea. They weren't allowed internet connection from their phones but in the case of emergency they did have cell tower signal.

**[17:40] Katsuki:** what do you magic weirdos even report on if you don't have a hero program

He didn't enjoy dealing with Peach Bitch and her incessant use of emojis, but it was better than disassociating for another half hour while Icyhot carefully thought over every single character in his part of this damn essay.

**[17:40] Peach Bitch:** :O !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
 **[17:40] Peach Bitch:** U messaged me first!!!!!!!! (*＞ｖ＜)ゞ*゜+  
 **[17:41] Peach Bitch:** im so proud of u  <3333333

Yeah... he already regretted this.

**[17:42] Katsuki:** Christ nevermind

**[17:42] Peach Bitch:** And we report on a lot of stuff!  >:/  
 **[17:43] Peach Bitch:** We're like, the only ones who CAN spread word beyond word of mouth! We're like the club that keeps the information network between other clubs all oiled up!

Oh that was rich, he took that back: this was a good idea. what a deluded little punk.

**[17:44] Katsuki:** holy crap do you overestimate what you do

**[17:44] Peach Bitch:** You know how many plays Gondor's drama club puts on over a school year to raise funds?  
 **[17:44] Peach Bitch:** Every weekend has at least ONE sports team playing someone else and those teams live and die by the amount of people that attend the games  
 **[17:45] Peach Bitch:** the choir club and dance club are combining their forces with the school band for a fundraiser concert.  
 **[17:45] Peach Bitch:** you think everyone else is gonna find out about allthat through word of mouth? Nu uh they read about it in the SCHOOL PAPER

**[17:46] Katsuki:** The hell are you guys doing that needs fundraising?

Todoroki tapped him on the shoulder then, signaling it was finally time for them to actually collaborate.

* * *

**[17:48] Peach Bitch:** the band needs new music stands, the choir kids are funding a ramp for the MPR, and the dance club needs soundproofing after some kid had a panic attack and burned up their previous setup last year (read)  
 **[17:49] Peach Bitch:** unlike you guys we're mostly on our own for budgetary shit beyond the 'keeps a school running' stuff. (read)  
 **[17:50] Peach Bitch:** I'd love for our job to not be that important to this system but we can't all afford multiple giant fake cities on our campuses (read)

* * *

While he was man enough to admit that his friends going off to do their sidekick work while he was stuck continuing this Remedial Class trudge with Todoroki was starting to make him really antsy and surprisingly anxious, he wouldn't admit under torture that the constant nonsense messages lined with emojis and bad jokes was becoming an ease on his nerves.

Though he could admit that such a revelation, even only to himself, was both baffling and fucking disconcerting.

She messaged him first most days, when he did message first it was generally with a real question regarding things, so he would never come off as more than just passively curious. On an average day he was free to just follow her lead so she'd message him and give his mind a break from all the bullshit.

And now he had a mass of useless trivia over a girl he had only had two conversations with in person.

She'd been told her mother was dead when she was a child so she wouldn't grow up resenting her.

She appreciated Photography as an artform first and foremost, but was unsure of what she wanted in a career

The printing ink from getting the newspapers in order made her hands look constantly dirty even though she was careful to keep herself clean.

Honestly with the things she'd talk at him about, it was at times hard to remember that she was a Magical Vigilante fighting in a war against creatures who wanted to plunge the world into hatred and chaos.

And not in fact just some strange girl who simply wanted to get into his good graces for whatever reason.

**[20:44] Peach Bitch:** OMG look at this fat baby  <3

She'd sent him a picture of... well of what he could only assume was some sort of magical being. A little ball of fur with giant eyes in the middle of stuffing its face with a cupcake half its size.

He had no idea what the little thing was supposed to be. It was clearly not a normal animal, and Nezu was the only animal with hyper intelligence that he knew of.

Was that some kind of... Angel pet? It wasn't like, hovering or anything, but being Magic was the only thing he could think of that would make sense.

**[20:45] Katsuki:** What the fuck is that thing?

He barely had to wait at all before his phone pinged her response.

**[20:45] Peach Bitch: **It's a cupcake (・∀・)****

**[20:45] Katsuki:** Don't give me that shit  
 **[20:45] Katsuki:** what the fuck is the thing EATING the damn cupcake

**[20:46] Peach Bitch:** oooohhh I see! :D  
 **[20:46] Peach Bitch:** That's Jama-P! He's a demon but he's good now! We're friends!

What the fuck

He felt his eyelid begin to twitch.

That... That _dumbass_ had just decided to let an ACTUAL Demon join their ranks like it was no big deal. But _somehow_ he as a human had to be an entire goddamn ordeal, like... like there was something inherently RISKIER in trusting someone whom they themselves had claimed stood to be no actual threat to them and their 'war'.

But somehow, SOMEWAY a fucking DEMON could just be added to their group like there was no issue whatsoever!

He felt the ire begin to rise in his gut as he rapidly tapped out his reply, while there were no explosions ricocheting off of his ballistic-proof phone case, it was a close thing.

**Katsuki:** ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?! ALL THE SHIT YOU PEOPLE PUT ME THROUGH AS A HUMAN AND AND YOU JUST DECIDE TO TRUST YOUR FUCKING ENEMIES RIGHT OFF THE BAT?!

His index finger hovered over the 'send' button, he didn't know why he was hesitating, he was mad as all hell. Not only were these supposed 'love angels who save the world' or some shit making stupid decisions like taking _demons_ into their houses like it was nothing, but, even he could admit it was a bruise on his pride.

That apparently he was less trustworthy than a fucking demon.

 

**[20:48] Katsuki:** So let me get this straight, you can trust a fucking DEMON no fucking issues there, whatever, he's just THE ENEMY of EVERYTHING you bitches are fighting for  
 **[20:48] Katsuki:** But me, a human, a supposed neutral party, gets a whole GODDAMN ORDEAL made about just KNOWING?!  
 **[20:49] Katsuki:** Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME?!

Yeah, that sounded better.

But of course, because he apparently had the WORST LUCK in ALL OF CREATION, he didn't even get the satisfaction of a response until he was already prepping for bed.

**[20:57] Peach Bitch:** ...  
 **[20:57] Peach Bitch:** if it helps Hinagiku is still keeping him at arms length

**[20:58] Katsuki:** It doesn't.

He muted his notifications, set his alarm, and went to bed.

He wasn't hurt. He wasn't upset. Those three weird girls and whatever demon pets they keep or don't weren't any of his business. He was just tangentially aware of them. His only contact with them was through his fucking messenger, and he only kept _that_ around because he was still owed a favor. And he took this kinda shit seriously.

It was just a bruise on his pride, that he was apparently less trustworthy than one of their fucking enemies. He didn't give a shit, he wasn't involved.

Just because he'd wanted to be for a short burst of insanity meant nothing. Especially when said burst of insanity was met with a memory eraser.

A world of magic and monsters and Angels and Demons was no place for the Number One Hero-to-be.

* * *

**[22:10] Peach Bitch:** I DON'T KNOW WHO YOU ARE MISTER BAKUBAKU (read)  
 **[22:11] Peach Bitch:** BUT YOU MADE MISS PEACH CRY-P! (read)  
 **[22:11] Peach Bitch** AND THAT IS A GRIEVOUS ERROR I HOPE YOU SINCERELY APOLOGIZEUYBHIJIOORKE (read)  
 **[22:12] Peach Bitch:** Oh my god I am SO sorry Bakugou (read)  
 **[22:12] Peach Bitch:** Jama-P got into my phone, pleeaassseee just ignore him (read)  
 **[22:12] Peach Bitch:** I can assure you I was NOT crying because of our conversation. (read)

* * *

He honestly didn't know how to respond when he woke up to those messages in the morning.

He wasn't exactly a stranger to making people cry, he'd done it to Deku a few dozen times—and only just recently did he start to get his shit together and realize that that wasn't _the best_ thing to have done for the majority of their childhoods—and to others dozens more.

He hadn't needed her to assure him that she hadn't been crying because of him. That little demon hairball could have been the only one to chime in and it would be nothing he hadn't seen in IM format at least a couple of times before.

But it did make him curious as to if she was telling the truth or not.

Knowing how weird and erratic she was, she could have easily simply been watching a particularly sad video as she was texting him and that fuzz ball was just wrong.

Or she was crying because of their conversation and for whatever reason didn't want him to know he was the source of it. Pride maybe? She had been spending the majority of her time while talking to him laughing and joking, sometimes at his expense. Did she not want to seem so weak such a small thing could shake her? If that were the case why would she be crying over it in the first place? Guilt? Maybe... And if she still felt guilty over the shit she pulled when they first met he wouldn't exactly be too keen to stop her.

**[5:45] Katsuki:** Why did your little demon rat call me 'BakuBaku'  
 **[5:45] Katsuki:** the fuck kinda name did you give me in your contacts?

**[6:40] Peach Bitch:** Dear Aphrodite you get up early...  
 **[6:41] Peach Bitch:** I'm sorry about Jama-P, I saved his life so he's really...  
 **[6:41] Peach Bitch:** Protective.

**[6:42] Katsuki:** Some of us have to train before we get thrown headfirst into fighting evil.

He wasn't going to apologize, he was the wronged party, and he wasn't going to let an actual demon guilt trip him just because Peach was a crybaby.

But there was still a drop of relief when things officially went back to normal and he spotted a particularly ridiculous looking emoji right before he and the rest of the class began to make their way into the school proper.

At least things would stay normal for a little longer.

* * *

A week went by without incident. Kirishima was getting steadily more and more stressed regarding whatever the hell he was doing at Fatgum's agency, which has apparently all culminated in some huge bust he was working on with Uraraka, Deku and Froggy tonight.

It left Katsuki... well it left a bad taste in his mouth. Kirishima was one of the very few people he actually enjoyed the company of, and he could practically _feel_ his anxiety beginning to mount. Whatever the results of what would be happening in a few short hours had him weirdly on edge.

He didn't like this.

**[19:00] Katsuki:** Does anyone besides me know your guys' secret?  
 **[19:00] Katsuki:** Like, do your parents ever wait up for you?

**[19:02] Peach Bitch:** Nah, Papa works late most days, and demons have usually gotten bored by then o3o  
 **[19:02] Peach Bitch:** y do u ask?

**[19:03] Katsuki:** none of your fucking business

**[19:04] Peach Bitch:** isn't it my business since ur using me as a distraction form whatever it is? (・∀・)  
 **[19:04] Peach Bitch:** maybe u can tell me y I was the first go2 when u needed a distraction

**[19:04] Katsuki:** THAT'S ALSO NONE OF YOUR FUCKING BUSINESS  
 **[19:05] Katsuki:** ALSO WHO SAID IT WAS? YOU COULD OF BEEN MY LAST RESORT GET OVER YOUR OWN FUCKING EGO

**[19:05] Peach Bitch:** omgggggggg  
 **[19:06] Peach Bitch:** u gotta stop letting ppl bait u so easy  
 **[19:07] Peach Bitch:** like holy shit I pity ur poor poor blood pressure

**[19:08] Katsuki:** Christ stop acting like you know me  
 **[19:09] Katsuki:** It's not exactly CHARMING

**[19:10] Peach Bitch:** Oh don't lie to yourself~~~~  
 **[19:11] Peach Bitch:** u know ur falling for my jokes and witty texts little by little! ((⊂(`ω´∩)

Now that wasn't even worth the proverbial shout. He could admit it to himself, he was indeed seeking out the help of someone who was very very annoying. But it was keeping him busy, not dissimilar to dealing with Kaminari. It was aggravating, but distracting in a not-terrible way. It was keeping his mind off of the feeling of dread at the pit of his stomach regarding his best friend, two girls he actually kinda respected, and his greatest rival marching into some lion's den so full of red tape he had nothing to go on concerning the severity beyond their worried faces. It was a comfort, even if he wouldn't admit to it.

**[19:12] Katsuki:** ew.

**[19:12] Peach Bitch:** (・ω <)(・ω<)(・ω<)

**[19:13] Katsuki:** disgusting

**[19:13] Peach Bitch:** u knew u were in 4 dis when u messaged me

**[19:14] Katsuki:** and yet you make it even worse than I expected.

**[19:14] Peach Bitch:** Sounds like a u problem buddy  
 **[19:16] Peach Bitch:** well if you need a distraction from whatever your freaking out about, You wanna hear about the Legend of Gondor Academy's Famous Noodle Incident?

**[19:17] Katsuki:** holy shit you're actually typing like a normal person.  
 **[19:17] Katsuki:** also thats a shitty name for a school legend

**[19:18] Peach Bitch:** Is that a yes?

**[19:19] Katsuki:** it's an I don't give a shit

**[19:20] Peach Bitch:** …....  
 **[19:20] Peach Bitch:** Okay so, picture if you will, Gondor Academy at about the first generation of Quirk evolution


End file.
